Israel returns bodies of 15 Palestinians after militants return remains of an Israeli hostage

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel on Saturday returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza, hospital officials in the strip said, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire agreement in the two-year war.

The exchange marked another step forward for the tenuous, U.S.-brokered truce. As part of the deal, Israel has returned the remains of 15 Palestinians for each Israeli hostage.

The Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis said the 15 bodies were brought there.

The return came shortly after Israel confirmed the remains given back Friday night were of an Israeli man who died while fighting Hamas in the militants' Oct. 7, 2023 attack that started the war. The hostage body was identified as that of Lior Rudaeff, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Rudaeff was born in Argentina and moved to Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, a farming community in southern Israel, as a child. He volunteered for more than 40 years as an ambulance driver and was a member of the community’s emergency response team.

The forum said he was killed in the Hamas-led attack and that his body was taken to Gaza.

Since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 23 hostages, including Rudaeff’s body, with five still remaining in Gaza.

Including the remains returned on Saturday, Israel has handed over the bodies of 300 Palestinians. Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits, and have so far identified 89 of the bodies, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

Under the terms of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Israel is supposed to allow substantially more aid into Gaza.

However, relief efforts under the pact still fall well short of what is needed in Gaza, according to Farhan Haqq, deputy spokesperson for the United Nations. More than 200,000 metric tons in aid is positioned to move into Gaza, but only 37,000 tons, mostly food, have been admitted, he said.

The 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel's sweeping military offensive 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.

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