Israel, Hamas Exchange Remains         11/04 06:16

   

   DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israel handed over the bodies of 45 
Palestinians on Monday, the Red Cross said, a day after militants returned the 
remains of three hostages. Israeli officials identified the three as soldiers 
who were killed in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that triggered the war 
in Gaza.

   The exchange marked another step forward for the tenuous, U.S.-brokered 
ceasefire intended to end the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought 
between Israel and Hamas.

   Since the truce took effect on Oct. 10, Palestinian militants have released 
the remains of 20 hostages, with eight now remaining in Gaza.

   For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 
15 Palestinians. With Monday's return, the bodies of 270 Palestinians have been 
handed back since the start of the ceasefire.

   Slow identification process in Gaza

   The Red Cross said it had facilitated the transfer of 45 Palestinian bodies 
to Gaza on Monday morning. Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson at the Gaza Health 
Ministry, told The Associated Press that Nasser Hospital received the bodies 
around noon.

   Only 78 of the bodies returned so far have been identified, the ministry 
said. Forensic work is complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits in Gaza, it 
added. The ministry posts photos of the remains online, in the hope 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 on Sunday in a 
tunnel in southern Gaza.

   Neutra was 21 when Hamas militants abducted his tank crew during the 2023 
attack. In December 2024, the military announced Neutra had been killed in the 
attack.

   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 one of 
the other crew members.

   "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 husband Ronen thanked Israeli troops, U.S. President Donald Trump 
and U.S. negotiators, who played a leading role in brokering the ceasefire. But 
they did not thank Netanyahu, who 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.

   Militants have released one to three bodies every few days. Israel has 
pushed to speed up the returns and in certain cases has said the remains were 
not those of hostages. Hamas has said the work is complicated by widespread 
devastation.

   Arrests of 2 ex-military figures rock Israel

   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 
of 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 also extended.

   The Palestinian detainee who was the subject of sexual abuse in the 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.

   2 Palestinians killed in the West Bank

   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 extends a surge in military killings 
of Palestinian youth 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.

   Efforts to ramp up Gaza aid and a vaccination campaign

   U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will be 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 that "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 
lifting of restrictions and more agencies able to go in with aid," Cooper said.

   Cooper also announced that Britain will provide an extra 6 million pounds 
($7.9 million) of humanitarian support for Gaza, provided by the U.N. 
Population Fund.

   Also Monday, Gaza's Health Ministry announced that a campaign to vaccinate 
some 40,000 Palestinian children under 3 years old against preventable diseases 
like measles, polio and meningitis will kick off next week. It will focus on 
children who missed routine vaccinations or received only partial doses due to 
the war, Dr. Nedal Ghoneim, the Health Ministry's public health manager, told 
the AP.

   The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel two years ago killed about 1,200 
people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel's military offensive has killed more 
than 68,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which 
doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants. 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.