Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza on Saturday, bringing the total number of corpses handed over to 135, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Under a ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump, Israel agreed to return the bodies of 15 Palestinians for each deceased Israeli handed back by Hamas.
Three of the four Israeli hostages whose bodies were transferred by Hamas on 14 October have been identified following forensic examinations, their families confirmed. One of them, Tamir, was a soldier captured at the age of 18 from a military base near the Gaza border. On Friday night, Hamas also released the body of another Israeli hostage.
Since the ceasefire took effect, Hamas has returned the bodies of nine Israelis and one Nepalese student.
The Gaza health ministry stated that some of the Palestinian bodies returned on Saturday showed signs of “abuse, beatings, handcuffing, and blindfolding”. The ministry had made similar allegations regarding earlier handovers under the truce.
However, the Israeli military dismissed these claims as “Hamas’s false propaganda,” asserting that all the bodies returned so far were those of combatants killed in action within the Gaza Strip.