Israel Returns Bodies of Palestinians  11/05 06:04

   

   DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Officials at Gaza's largest functioning 
hospital said Wednesday that the bodies of 15 more Palestinians were returned 
from Israel, as exchanges outlined in last month's fragile ceasefire continued 
despite allegations of violations.

   The International Committee of the Red Cross has transported 285 bodies held 
in Israeli custody to Gaza since last month's agreement was brokered, though 
health officials in Gaza have said identifying the remains is complicated by a 
lack of DNA testing kits.

   Israel has not disclosed how many bodies it is holding or where they were 
recovered, but has been returning 15 each time the remains of an Israeli 
hostage are returned from Gaza.

   The 15 were returned to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday a day 
after Palestinian militants in Gaza handed over the body of an Israeli soldier 
taken hostage in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war.

   The exchanges are the central component of the initial phase of the 
U.S.-brokered agreement which requires Hamas return all hostage remains as 
quickly as possible. The exchanges have gone ahead even as Israel and Hamas 
have accused each other of breaching other terms of the deal.

   Hamas returned 20 living hostages to Israel on Oct. 13. The group has since 
also returned the remains of 21 bodies. Israeli officials have decried parts of 
the process as a violation of the agreement, accusing Hamas of handing over 
partial remains in some instances and staging the discovery of bodies in others.

   It has pushed to speed up the returns and in certain cases has said the 
remains were not those of hostages.

   Hamas has said recovering bodies is complicated by the widespread 
devastation in the coastal enclave and has returned one to three bodies every 
few days. It has accused Israel of opening fire at civilians and restricting 
the flow of humanitarian aid into the territory. The number of casualties has 
dropped since the ceasefire took effect.

   But health officials in Gaza -- who do not distinguish between civilians and 
militants -- have continued to report deaths from strikes, while Israel has 
said that soldiers have also been killed.

   The deal will not move to subsequent phases until all the remains of Israeli 
hostages are returned.

   The next parts of the 20-point plan call for creating an international 
stabilization force. Its makeup hasn't been finalized, but diplomats are 
working to define its role, persuade Arab countries to take part, and win wider 
international support.

   "What we believe is that whatever entity that is created in Gaza should have 
the legitimacy of a mandate from the Security Council," U.N. Secretary-General 
Antonio Guterres told reporters in Doha on Tuesday.

   The fragile agreement aims to wind down the war that was triggered by the 
Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 
taken hostage.

   Israel responded with a sweeping military offensive that has killed more 
than 68,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The 
ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical 
professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by 
independent experts.

   Israel, which has denied accusations by a U.N. commission of inquiry and 
others of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the ministry's figures 
without providing a contradicting toll.