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israel said the remains of three hostages were returned on Monday Gaza Last night belongs to the soldiers who died in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that started the war. The positive recognition marked another step forward for the tenuous US-brokered ceasefire.
Since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October, palestinian The militants have released the remains of 20 hostages, eight of whom now remain in Gaza.
The release of the latest hostages came as Israel was rocked by a political scandal involving the Israeli army’s former legal chief, who was arrested overnight after admitting to leaking a video of Israeli soldiers attacking a Palestinian captive, according to media reports. Reports said a former chief military prosecutor was also arrested.
Both were to appear in court on Monday. Officials did not immediately comment.
slow release of dead bodies
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office identified the three returned hostages as Capt. Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli, Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel and Colonel Assaf Hamami. A Hamas An earlier statement said his remains were found in a tunnel in southern Gaza on Sunday.
us President donald trump He said Sunday he had spoken to the family of American-Israeli Omar Neutra and described their relief and sadness. “They were thrilled in one sense, but in another sense, obviously, it’s not great,” Trump said.
The militants have left one or two dead bodies every few days. Israel has urged rapid progress, and in some cases has said the remains do not belong to any hostages. Hamas has said the task has been complicated by the widespread destruction.
In return Israel is releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians for the return of each Israeli hostage. Health officials in Gaza are struggling to identify bodies without DNA kits.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, only 75 of the 225 Palestinian bodies returned since the ceasefire began have been identified. The ministry has posted photos of the remains online and used projectors to enlarge the images on the walls of Nasser Hospital in the hope that families will recognize them.
The arrest of two former military figures caused a stir in Israel
The arrest of the former military legal chief, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, came just days after she issued a stunning admission that she was responsible for leaking a video showing Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee and resigned from the post.
The arrest followed a search for Tomer-Yerushalmi on a Tel Aviv beach on Sunday, after her family raised concerns for her safety and police found her abandoned car washed up on the beach, Israel’s Channel 12 reported. Police said she was found soon after the search began.
Former chief military prosecutor Colonel Maton Solomesh was also arrested, Israel’s Army Radio reported.
Who were the returned hostages?
Neutra, an American-Israeli, was 21 when he died. In the October 7, 2023 attack, he was kidnapped along with the rest of his tank crew. In December 2024, the military announced that Neutra had been killed in the attack that started the war.
Neutra’s parents were regular attendees of protests in the US and Israel, and they addressed the Republican National Convention last year.
The militants took the bodies of 19-year-old Daniel and three others from his tank. He is survived by his parents and twin sister.
Hamami commanded Israel’s Southern Brigade in the Gaza Division and died early on October 7, 2023, while fighting to defend Kibbutz Nirim.
According to Israeli media, Hamami was the first person in the army to announce that Israel was at war, less than 10 minutes after the attack began. Hamami and two of his soldiers were killed and their bodies were taken to Gaza. The remains of the other two soldiers were recovered in July 2024. Hamami is survived by his wife and three children.
where the ceasefire is in place
The exchange of hostage remains for Palestinian bodies has been a central part of the initial phase of the US-brokered ceasefire. The 20-point plan includes the formation of an international stabilization force of Arab and other partners that would work with Egypt and Jordan to secure Gaza’s borders and ensure that the ceasefire is respected.
Several countries have expressed interest in participating in peacekeeping forces, but have sought clear UN Security Council orders before sending troops.
Other difficult questions include the disarmament of Hamas and post-war governance of Gaza, as well as when and how humanitarian aid will be increased.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will visit Jordan on Monday and call on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza. He is expected to visit a warehouse where British aid is held awaiting entry into Gaza.
Ahead of the trip, Cooper said that “humanitarian aid is desperately needed and the people of Gaza cannot wait.”
“Following the US-led peace process and the planned substantial increase in assistance for Gaza, we need to increase crossings, accelerate the lifting of sanctions, and be able to deliver assistance to more agencies,” Cooper said.
Cooper also announced that Britain would provide an additional 6 million pounds ($7.9 million) of humanitarian aid for Gaza to be provided by the United Nations Population Fund.
The two-year war between Israel and Hamas has been the deadliest and most destructive ever fought. It began with the Hamas-led 2023 attack that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.
More than 68,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the Israeli military offensive, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, keeps detailed records that are generally considered reliable by independent experts.
Israel, which has denied accusations by the UN Commission of Inquiry and others of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the ministry’s figures without providing a contradictory toll.
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Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; Jill Lawless in London and Amer Madani in West Palm Beach, Florida contributed to this report.
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Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war