Israel handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians to Gaza on Monday, the Red Cross said, a day after Hamas returned the remains of three Israeli soldiers killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, incursion that ignited the ongoing war.
The exchange marked another cautious step in the fragile, U.S.-brokered cease-fire aimed at ending the deadliest and most destructive Israeli bombardments in Gaza.
Since the truce took effect on Oct. 10, Hamas has released the remains of 20 Israeli hostages, with eight still believed to be held in Gaza.
For each Israeli returned, Israel has handed over the bodies of 15 Palestinians.
Monday’s transfer brought the total number of Palestinian bodies returned since the cease-fire began to 270.
The Red Cross confirmed it had facilitated the handover of the 45 Palestinian bodies to Gaza early Monday.
Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press (AP) that Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received the bodies around noon.
Only 78 of the bodies returned so far have been identified, the ministry said.
Forensic work has been complicated by a shortage of DNA testing kits in Gaza, it added.
The ministry has posted photos of the remains online in hopes that families will recognize them.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office identified the three hostages whose bodies were returned to Israel on Sunday night as Capt. Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli; Staff Sgt. Oz Daniel; and Col. Assaf Hamami.
A Hamas statement earlier said their remains were found Sunday in a tunnel in southern Gaza.
Neutra was 21 when Hamas members abducted his tank crew during the 2023 attack.
In December 2024, the military announced Neutra had been killed in the assault.
Daniel, 19, was part of the tank crew and was taken into Gaza. Nimrod Cohen, who was also in the tank, was released alive earlier, as was the body of another crew member.
“Our hearts are shattered, yet at last we can begin the process of bringing Omer to his final resting place in the land he loved and defended,” Neutra’s mother, Orna, told reporters Monday in Tel Aviv.
She and her husband, Ronen, thanked Israeli troops, U.S. President Donald Trump, and U.S. negotiators who played a leading role in brokering the cease-fire. But they did not thank Netanyahu, whom many families of hostages blame for prolonging the conflict and endangering captives.
“The IDF soldiers and the U.S. administration fought for his life,” Ronen Neutra said.
Hamami, commander of Israel’s southern brigade in the Gaza division, was killed during the 2023 attack while fighting to defend Kibbutz Nirim, and his body was taken into the Palestinian territory.
Hamas members have released one to three bodies every few days.
Israel has pushed to speed up the returns and, in some cases, has said the remains were not those of hostages. Hamas has said the work is complicated by widespread devastation.
A political scandal continued to rock Israel involving the military’s former legal chief, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who admitted to leaking a video showing Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee and resigned from office.
Far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, said Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested Sunday night.
At a court hearing Monday, the judge extended her detention until Wednesday, according to a copy of the decision.
It said she is being held on suspicion of offenses including fraud, breach of trust, and obstruction of justice. The investigation continues while she is held in a women’s prison in central Israel.
Police conducted a frantic search for Tomer-Yerushalmi on Sunday after her family raised concerns about her safety, and police found her abandoned car near the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel’s Channel 12 reported. Police said she was found soon after the search began.
Israeli media reported that former chief military prosecutor Col. Matan Solomesh was also arrested overnight and his detention was extended.
The Palestinian detainee who was the subject of the sexual abuse video leaked by Tomer-Yerushalmi last year was released and returned to Gaza on Oct. 13, according to documentation from the military prosecutor’s office obtained by the AP.
Two Palestinians, one of them a teenager, were killed by Israeli gunfire Sunday night in separate incidents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah.
Jamil Hanani, 17, was killed in the town of Beit Furik, the ministry said Monday.
Israel’s military said soldiers opened fire at Palestinians hurling rocks, hitting one person. Hanani’s death adds to a surge in military killings of Palestinian youths in the West Bank during an upswing in violence since the start of the war.
Also Sunday, Ahmed al-Atrash, 32, was fatally shot by an Israeli settler at an entrance to the city of Hebron, the ministry said. Israel’s military referred the AP to the police, who did not immediately comment.
Hundreds of hard-line settlers live in fortified enclaves under military protection in the city of more than 200,000 Palestinians.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper was in Jordan on Monday, with plans to visit a warehouse where British aid remains stuck waiting to enter Gaza.
Ahead of the visit, Cooper said “humanitarian support is desperately needed and the people of Gaza cannot afford to wait.”
“Following the U.S.-led peace process and the plans for a substantial increase in aid for Gaza, we need an increase in crossings, an acceleration in the lifting of restrictions, and more agencies able to go in with aid,” Cooper said.
She also announced that Britain will provide an extra 6 million pounds ($7.9 million) in humanitarian support for Gaza, distributed through the U.N. Population Fund.
Also Monday, Gaza’s Health Ministry announced that a campaign to vaccinate about 40,000 Palestinian children under 3 years old against preventable diseases such as measles, polio, and meningitis will begin next week.
It will focus on children who missed routine vaccinations or received only partial doses due to the war, said Dr. Nedal Ghoneim, the Health Ministry’s public health manager.
The Hamas incursion on southern Israel two years ago killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
Israel’s military offensive has since 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 an alternative toll.
