Source: Aljazeera News

DST News: The Palestinian group Hamas has handed over the bodies of two Israeli captives, a day after the fragile ceasefire in Gaza was shattered by renewed Israeli airstrikes that left scores dead across the war-torn enclave.

According to the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the bodies were transferred to Israeli forces through the Red Cross on Thursday. They were later identified as those of Amiram Cooper (also spelled Kuper) from Kibbutz Nir Oz and Sahar Baruch from Kibbutz Be’eri — both abducted during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel. Israeli officials said forensic examinations at Tel Aviv’s Abu Kabir Institute would determine the causes of their deaths.

The body transfer comes under a U.S.-brokered truce that temporarily paused Israel’s two-year-long war on Gaza. As part of the agreement, Hamas released 20 Israeli captives alive in exchange for Israel’s release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners. Israeli forces also began a limited withdrawal from parts of Gaza’s urban centres.

However, the ceasefire remains on the brink of collapse. Since it took effect on October 10, Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Palestinians, including women and children. Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that from Tuesday to Wednesday alone, 104 people were killed, among them 46 children and 20 women.

Under the terms of the truce, Hamas agreed to repatriate the remains of all 28 Israeli captives in exchange for the bodies of Palestinians killed during the conflict. By Thursday, the group had delivered 15 sets of remains, while stating that efforts continue to locate others buried under the vast rubble of destroyed neighbourhoods, where thousands of Palestinians are still believed to lie beneath the debris of Israeli bombardments.