The Latest: Israel identifies remains of 2 more hostages

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Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine on Thursday identified the remains of two more hostages returned from Gaza, as officials and families warned Hamas to hand over the bodies of those still held.

Amid a fragile truce that paused the two-year war, Palestinians were awaiting a long-promised surge of aid into Gaza, and plans for an international force to deploy there were beginning to take shape.

Since Monday’s exchange, Hamas has returned 10 bodies, nine of which Israel’s military has identified as hostages. Israel said there were 28 total in Gaza before the exchange.

In exchange for the release of the hostages, Israel freed around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees Monday.

Here's the latest:

Muhammad Al-Atarash, 39, a member of Israel’s Bedouin community, brother to 22 siblings and father of 13, served as a tracker in the northern brigade of the Israeli military’s Gaza Division. His funeral was held amongst baren desert hills outside Sa’wa, a Bedouin town near the southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva.

Al-Atrash was killed fighting Hamas militants in the area of Nahal Oz on October 7, 2023, his body taken into Gaza that day. In a recorded interview with Ynet, his brother Salem said that after eight months of initially not knowing his brother’s fate, Israeli officials revealed “horrific” footage of his brother to him. The IDF announced Al-Atrash’s death in June, 2024.

Soldiers in fatigues paced behind family members in jeans and black shirts carrying his casket draped with an Israeli flag in the desert sun.

“For the first eight months we held onto hope that Muhammad, who fought valiantly, would return to the embrace of his family,” said Gaza Division commander, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram standing before the burial mound adorned with wreaths. Confirming his death “pierced our hearts,” he said.

Throughout the over twenty years of his service, Al-Atrash “set an outstanding example for all those around him,” he said. He described Al-Atrash as having a special love for the land, and served “in his life and death as a true bridge for mutual responsibility and shared living for all the children of Abraham and lovers of life in this good land.”

The bodies of Staff Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi, Sgt. Maj. Muhammad al-Atrash and Eitan Levy were handed over by Hamas earlier this week under a ceasefire agreement.

Nimrodi, 18, was abducted by Hamas militants during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in Israel. The Israeli military confirmed that he was likely killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting senior Hamas officers two days after his abduction.

Until his identity was confirmed this week at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine, Nimrodi had been the last remaining hostage not officially declared dead.

“A day ago, I received the news that shattered my heart,” his mother Herut said in her eulogy. “How am I supposed to say goodbye to my first-born son? My only son?”

Thousands of people lined the streets from Nimrodi’s home in Nirit where the funeral procession began and joined the ceremony at the Kfar Saba military cemetery where he was laid to rest beneath a large canopy surrounded by rows of soldiers and civilians.

Clad in a cap and wearing sunglasses, Nimrodi’s father Alon broke down in sobs as he recalled how they reached “every corner of the Earth” to speak about the “amazing, moral, extraordinary young man you are.”

“I am sorry. I am sorry I couldn’t bring you home alive. Forgive me, my beloved first-born. Forgive me.”

Health officials in the Gaza Strip are struggling to identify the bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel under the Gaza ceasefire.

Health authorities in the blockaded territory say they do not have access to DNA testing or other advanced technology that Israel has used to identify the remains of hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.

On Thursday, workers at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis unloaded dozens of white body bags. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has helped facilitate the exchange of bodies, said 120 bodies have been returned to Gaza in the last three days, citing local hospital officials.

Dr. Mohammed Zaqout, the head of Gaza’s hospitals, said they have only been able to identify four bodies so far. He said some of the bodies appear to have had their wrists tightly bound, indicating those individuals may have died in Israeli custody.

Some may have died in battle or in Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military says it acts in accordance with local and international law and “completely rejects allegations regarding the systematic abuse of detainees.”

Both Israel and Palestinian militants hold the bodies of their adversaries in order to exchange them in deals like the one currently being implemented.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank says an 11-year-old boy has died from injuries as Israeli soldiers opened fire toward stone-throwing youths south of Hebron.

The ministry, citing local residents, said Mohammad Bahjat Al-Hallaq died from a bullet wound in the pelvis after soldiers opened fire toward youths who threw stones at military vehicles passing through the town of Al-Rihiya in the southern West Bank.

The Israel military, contacted by The Associated Press, said it was looking into the matter.

The United Nations has reported that at least 18 children under the age of 15 have been killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank this year, marking the third consecutive year child fatalities in the territory have reached the double digits.

U.N.-supported bakeries produced over 100,000 bread bundles weighing 2 kilograms on Tuesday, and 21 U.N. partner agencies distributed nearly 960,000 meals, the U.N. spokesman said.

Stephane Dujarric told U.N. reporters in New York on Thursday that the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, also distributed more than one million diapers for babies. And he said the U.N. World Health Organization sent three truckloads of surgical and medical supplies from its warehouse in central Deir al Balah to the central pharmacy in Gaza City for transfer to Shifa Hospital, which will help 10,000 people.

Dujarric said between Friday and Tuesday, U.N. teams collected nearly 3,500 metric tons of supplies from the Kissufim and Kerem Shalom crossings from Israel to Gaza. On Tuesday, he said, the U.N. and its partners sent wheat flour, food parcels, nutrition supplements, date bars, food supplies for kitchens, hygiene kits, sanitary pads, diapers, various medical equipment, tents and animal fodder to those crossings.

In response to questions, Dujarric called reports that numerous remains of Palestinians sent to Gaza from Israel showed clear signs of torture “extremely concerning,” and stressed again that there must be accountability for all violations of international law during the two-year war.

Dujarric also said the U.N. continues to call for the release of the former director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Husam Abu Safiyyah, whose detention was just extended by Israel for six months,

The airstrikes targeted a cement plant and quarry and a site belonging to an environmental group it accused of being affiliated with Hezbollah.

The Israeli army said in a statement that Hezbollah was using the quarry “with the aim of rebuilding terrorist facilities and infrastructure.” A few days earlier, Israel had struck several lots storing bulldozers and excavators, also claiming that the equipment was intended for use by Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said the environmental group it targeted, Green Without Borders, “was used by Hezbollah to conceal terrorist activities aimed at rebuilding the organization’s infrastructure.”

Lebanon’s health ministry said six people were injured in strikes in the towns of Bnaafoul and Ansar. The strikes sparked massive explosions that could be seen and heard in areas far from the targeted site, “causing tremors that sparked panic and tension among citizens,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

Israel’s foreign minister said this may happen Sunday, as hopes rise for an influx of aid and access to the territory under a ceasefire agreement.

Gideon Sa’ar made the comments to reporters after a meeting with European and other officials at the Med Dialogues meeting in Naples, Italy, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

“We are making all the necessary preparations. It is also coordinated with the EUBAM force of the European Union and, as far as I know, also with the Palestinians themselves,” Sa’ar said, referring to a unit of EU monitors at Rafah. “So it will probably be opened this Sunday. I hope it will be open and everything possible will be done to make it so.”

The crossing, which connects Gaza and Egypt, in the past has been an important entry point for food, medicine and other supplies that are desperately needed by Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million people.

COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry that oversees humanitarian aid in Gaza, said Thursday that humanitarian aid will not pass through the Rafah crossing. It said humanitarian aid continues to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing and others after Israeli security inspections.

Despite hurdles and delays in getting aid into Gaza, UN officials said Thursday that they have used this time to clear even more aid with Israeli officials to prepare for when crossings reopen.

Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson, said that a total of 200,000 metric tons of aid have been approved for entry into Gaza when officials receive the green light to continue their work,

Meanwhile, Dujarric said that the aid that was able to make it into Gaza on Sunday is being quickly distributed to Palestinians by various U.N, agencies, including more than a million diapers.

Thursday's development brings the total of bodies of Palestinians handed over by Israel since the ceasefire deal to 120.

The remains have been transferred over the last three days, wrapped in body bags and numbered, none of them identified. They were handed over through the Red Cross as part of the exchange for human remains of hostages, the international organization said.

It was not immediately known if they were Palestinians who died in Israeli prisons or whose bodies were taken from Gaza by Israeli troops. The Health Ministry in Gaza posted pictures of nearly half of the returned bodies so far, asking families to come forth if they recognize any of their relatives. Some of the bodies were badly decomposed, missing limbs or teeth, and doctors said some of the returned bodies showed signs of abuse.

An Israeli court has extended the detention of Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, a well-known hospital director from Gaza, his family and an Israeli rights group involved in his defense said Thursday.

Abu Safiya led Kamel Adwan Hospital through an 85-day siege last year and documented the ordeal on social media, becoming the face of the struggle to keep treating patients under Israeli siege and bombardment.

He has been held without charge by Israel for nearly ten months since his December 2024 arrest. Israeli authorities said he was placed under investigation on suspicion of cooperating with Hamas — an accusation his staff and international aid groups that worked with him denied.

On Thursday, the Palestinian human rights organization Al Mezan, Abu Safiya’s family and Physicians for Human Rights–Israel said they had been notified that he would not be released, despite earlier indications that he might be among the hundreds of Palestinians detained without charge who returned to Gaza as part of this week’s exchange.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel noted 17 other Palestinian doctors were detained in Israel without charge.

“Their continued detention serves no real justice — it only harms the right to health of the Palestinian people.”

There was no comment from Israeli authorities.

A Hamas political official has defended the execution- style killings of alleged gang members carried out by Hamas forces in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect.

“The people who were targeted caused death and corruption in Gaza and killed displaced persons and aid seekers, and more dangerous than that, they represented the origin and foundation of Israel’s Zionist project,” Hamas political representative in Lebanon Ahmed Abdul Hadi said regarding the men who were publicly killed.

“This was done by a Palestinian national and tribal consensus,” he said.

Abdul Hadi also claimed that Israel had made last-minute changes to a list of Palestinian prisoners to be released to remove high-profile figures such as Marwan Barghouti.

“We asked for much more than this and put all the key leaders on the list, which was approved by the Zionist delegation in Cairo,” he said. “When it went to the (Israeli) government, to be approved, they removed the first 25 names.”

An Israeli airstrike targeting top leaders in Yemen’s Houthi rebels in August killed the chief of staff of its military, officials said Thursday, further escalating the tensions between the group and Israel even as a ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis first acknowledged the killing of Maj. Gen. Muhammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari, who had been sanctioned by the United Nations over his role in the country’s decadelong war.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz a short time later claimed the killing, saying that al-Ghamari had died of wounds he suffered in the attack and had joined “his fellow members of the axis of evil in the depths of hell.”

International efforts to map Gaza’s future — including Trump’s 20 point plan — have largely deferred a return to power by the Palestinian Authority, which is led by rivals of Hamas, until it carries out major reforms.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said Thursday in Ramallah that the Palestinian Authority’s plan would build directly on an Arab-led initiative announced in March. He stressed that rebuilding should be “anchored in Palestinian national ownership and leadership.” Israeli and U.S. officials rejected that plan at the time.

Though he did not mention them directly, Mustafa’s remarks stood in contrast to proposals that would place Gaza under an internationally supervised transitional governance led by a technocratic, apolitical committee.

The Ramallah-based authority hasn’t controlled Gaza since Hamas seized power in 2007 and is mistrusted by both Israel’s right-wing government and many Palestinians.

Mustafa said the PA’s program aims to rebuild Gaza and better connect it with the occupied West Bank, which it currently administers. He said the plan includes restoring an estimated $67 billion in damage.

“Recovery will not only restore homes, schools, hospitals and infrastructure,” Mustafa said. “Hopefully it will also restore hope for our people, strengthen governance, empower communities and build resilience against future shocks.”

Praising the ceasefire in Gaza, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union is committed to stability and reconstruction in the war-ravaged coastal enclave.

“It is a very special moment for the Mediterranean, but also for Europe,” Von der Leyen said in Brussels. “As both share a common future of peace and cooperation, often during unimaginable pain and loss, the devastating war in Gaza has now come to an end, marking a pivotal moment not only for Gaza, but also for the European Union and the wider Mediterranean.”

The 27-nation bloc is the largest single donor to the Palestinian Authority and has pledged to help flood Gaza with aid and bring in a police support program from the West Bank to assist in stabilization.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the bloc has launched a new donor platform to finance reconstruction in Gaza. She said that for “peace to be sustainable in Gaza, it needs strong international backing, which also means European Union.”

Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine on Thursday identified the remains of two hostages returned from Gaza, as officials warned Hamas to hand over the rest.

The Israeli military said the bodies were those of Nova music festivalgoer Inbar Hayman and Sgt. Muhammad al-Atresh, who were killed in fighting on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, igniting the war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel remained “determined, committed, and working tirelessly to bring back all our fallen hostages for proper burial in their homeland."

Hamas and the Red Cross have said that recovering the remains was a challenge because of Gaza’s vast destruction, and Hamas has told mediators that some bodies are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.

The United Nations’ humanitarian chief is visiting a key Israel-controlled crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, as aid groups seek to ramp up deliveries of food and other basic necessities to ease hunger, disease and collapsing sanitation.

“This route is a vital lifeline for food, medicine, tents and other lifesaving aid. We want to see it full of trucks, as part of a massive surge of aid following the peace deal,” U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher wrote on X.

A day earlier, Fletcher warned that hopes pinned on last week’s ceasefire could fade amid what he called “setbacks” to getting aid into Gaza, while the World Food Program said the situation remained unpredictable. Fletcher urged Hamas to return the bodies of deceased hostages and called on Israel to allow the promised aid surge to move forward, as outlined in the agreement.

Turkey has appointed a special envoy to coordinate humanitarian aid to Gaza and ensure the rapid delivery of aid, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said Thursday.

Ambassador Mehmet Gulluoglu was named Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid to Palestine, and was already on the ground in Gaza, the officials said. He and his team will assess urgent needs, coordinate with U.N. agencies, support their operations, and consult with authorities in Egypt and Jordan to manage logistics. The envoy will also work to strengthen medical support and oversee the evacuation of patients in need, said the officials who requested anonymity to discuss the issue.

Separately, Turkey’s emergency response authority, AFAD, has made preparations to deploy an 81-person search and rescue team to assist in the recovery of missing bodies and the removal of debris, according to reports from Turkey’s IHA news agency and other media. Turkish officials would not confirm the reports.

Turkey has delivered 102,000 tons of aid to Gaza by sea and air since the start of the conflict in October 2023.

Following the ceasefire, an additional 865-ton shipment was sent by sea on Oct. 14, Turkish officials have said.

- By Suzan Frazer

Israel received the remains of two more hostages Wednesday, the Red Cross said.

The remains were transferred by the Red Cross from Hamas. After the two coffins arrived in Israel, the military in a statement cautioned that the hostages’ identities had yet to be verified.

“Israeli health and forensic authorities are responsible for identifying the remains of the deceased," the ICRC said in a statement verifying it facilitated the transfer.

“The parties must endeavor to facilitate the return of the remains of the deceased to their families. The ICRC can fulfil its functions as a neutral intermediary only through the cooperation of all actors, and within the framework of the current agreement," it said.