Tense Gaza ceasefire holds despite more than 140 dead in a week, scores of injuries and the sniper killing of an Israeli soldier – now a nervous world awaits next stage of the peace deal
Isareli officials have handed over the dead bodies of 30 Palestinians, a day after Hamas militants in Gaza turned over the remains of two hostages. Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis confirmed receiving the bodies but did not immediately say what state they were in or identify them.
The exchange of Palestinian remains for hostage remains is the latest indication that the fraught Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is moving forward. That is despite horrific Israeli strikes on Gaza this week which have claimed the lives of more than 100 Palestinians, most of them civilians.
The attacks were in response to a sniper shooting dead an Israel Defence Force soldier and accusations Hamas had returned body parts of a hostage previously retrieved. Before Friday’s release, Israel had returned the bodies of 195 Palestinians to authorities in Gaza without providing details on their identities.
It is unclear if the bodies returned by Israel were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack, died in Israeli custody as detainees or were recovered from Gaza by troops during the war. Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late Thursday that the remains returned by Palestinian militants had been confirmed as those of Sahar Baruch and Amiram Cooper, both taken hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that set off the war. Officials in southern Gaza said Thursday that at least 40 people had been injured in overnight strikes, after Israel declared the ceasefire was back on Wednesday morning.
Hamas has now returned the remains of 17 hostages since the start of the ceasefire, with 11 others still in Gaza and set to be turned over. Baruch was readying to pursue an electrical engineering degree when he was taken hostage. His brother, Idan, was killed in the attack.
Three months into Sahar’s captivity, the Israeli military said he was killed during an attempted rescue mission. He was 25. Cooper was an economist and one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was captured along with his wife, Nurit, who was released after 17 days. In June 2024 Israeli officials confirmed that he had been killed in Gaza. He was 84.
Hamas has been warned its remaining fighters in the yellow zone within Gaza had 24 hours to leave or face Israeli strikes. That deadline expired Thursday, after which the official said “Israel will enforce the ceasefire and engage Hamas targets behind the yellow line.”
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic conversations. The ceasefire, which began Oct. 10, is aimed at winding down a war that is by far the deadliest and most destructive of those ever fought between Israel and Hamas.
It was triggered by the October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants, who killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage. In the two years since, Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 68,600 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and is staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts. Israel, which some international critics have accused of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the figures.