Israeli military says one of the four bodies handed over by Hamas is not that of a hostage
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that one of the bodies handed over by Hamas the previous day as part of the ceasefire deal is not that of one of the hostages who was held in Gaza.
Four bodies were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday to ease pressure on the fragile ceasefire, after the first four on Monday – when the last 20 living hostages were released.
The military said that “following the completion of examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages”.
Key events
Summary of the day so far
It is 5pm in Gaza and Israel. Here is a summary of some of the key events reported on the blog so far today:
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that one of the bodies handed over by Hamas the previous day as part of the ceasefire deal is not that of one of the hostages who was held in Gaza. Four bodies were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday to ease pressure on the fragile ceasefire, after the first four on Monday – when the last 20 living hostages were released.
The families of former Gaza hostages Ouriel Baruch, Eitan Levy and Tamir Nimrodi, posted statements on social media after Israel’s forensic research laboratory confirmed the identities. Baruch was kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Nimrodi, who had been serving with the Israeli defence body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza, was taken by militants from the Erez border crossing. Levy was kidnapped while driving a friend to kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas attack.
Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday and Israel resumed preparations to open the main Rafah crossing after a dispute over the return of the bodies of dead hostages that had threatened to derail the ceasefire deal with Hamas. Cogat declined to comment on the number of trucks expected to enter Gaza on Wednesday. Israel had threatened to keep Rafah shut and reduce aid supplies because Hamas was returning bodies too slowly.
Israel’s far-right security minister called for a total halt on humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Speaking on Tuesday, Itamar Ben Gvir, who is a security minister despite having been convicted in 2007 of racist incitement and supporting groups on terrorism blacklists, said Hamas was “playing games”.
Forensic authorities in Gaza have started the identification process of 45 bodies of Palestinians that Israel released on Tuesday as part of the ceasefire deal, according to the health ministry. Israel is expected to transfer more bodies, though the total number has not been announced.
The Palestinian Centre for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons urged Israel on Tuesday to provide all available information on bodies returned to Gaza, including “names of the victims and details about the circumstances of their deaths”. The centre said it received information that some of the bodies that were transferred on Tuesday were only partial remains, raising concerns about the circumstances of their death and detention
The health ministry said the bodies of 19 people had been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours. They include 16 bodies that were recovered from under the rubble, the ministry said in its daily report. Hospitals also received 35 injured Palestinians. The ministry said it did not add the 45 bodies that Israel transferred to Gaza on Tuesday to its tally.
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is expected to reopen to allow people to cross on Thursday with an EU mission expected to deploy there, two sources have told Reuters. According to the news agency, the sources did not specify what restrictions might be applied to those seeking to cross. The Israeli military and the office of the Israeli prime minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.
Mohammad Shtayyeh, special envoy to president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas said an agreement with the EU border assistance mission (EUBam) to help the authority manage the Rafah crossing effectively, which was paused in March as hostilities recommenced, is still valid. “We don’t need a new agreement. The agreement is there, and I think now it’s in the final shape of putting all the bits and pieces together for it to function,” he told reporters in Geneva on a visit to Switzerland where he met Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis.
The European Union said on Wednesday it is on standby to deploy EUBam at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza if conditions on the ground improve. Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the European Commission said the EUBam remains on standby to deploy to the Rafah crossing point “as soon as conditions allow.” He did not elaborate on those conditions.
Under Gaza’s ceasefire deal, Israel freed dozens of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical personnel seized during raids on hospitals. But more than 100 remain in Israeli prisons, including Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, a hospital director who became the face of the struggle to keep treating patients under Israeli siege and bombardment. Despite widespread calls for his release, Abu Safiya was not among the hundreds of Palestinian detainees and prisoners freed on Monday in exchange for 20 hostages held by Hamas.
Palestinian Authority representatives are touring Europe to try to convince countries that have not yet recognised a Palestinian state to get onboard, a presidential envoy said during a visit to Switzerland on Wednesday. Former Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, now serving as special envoy for president Mahmoud Abbas, told reporters that he had met Switzerland’s top diplomat to push Berne to join “the countries who recognise Palestine”.
Israel’s siege on Gaza, which has killed one in every 33 locals, has also decimated infrastructure and ecosystems, according to a new report. The war in Gaza has left more than 300 water wells damaged or inaccessible while taking a major toll on the capacity of desalination plants. Sewage in Gaza constitutes another public health crisis, while Israeli troops have also damaged more than 80% of croplands in Gaza.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was back in a Tel Aviv court on Wednesday for the latest hearing in his long-running corruption trial, which opened in May 2020. The prime minister kept a smiling face as he and his entourage of several ministers from his conservative Likud party were heckled by protesters en route to the tribunal.
Gaza’s Rafah crossing to Egypt expected to open for people on Thursday, sources tell Reuters
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is expected to reopen to allow people to cross on Thursday with an EU mission expected to deploy there, two sources have told Reuters.
According to the news agency, the sources did not specify what restrictions might be applied to those seeking to cross.
The Israeli military and the office of the Israeli prime minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.
The UN’s World Food Programme said it had dispatched more than 130 trucks of aid to the Gaza Strip since Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire.
The fragile agreement faced its first test when Israel said on Tuesday that the flow of vital humanitarian assistance into the territory would be cut by half and the crucial Rafah border crossing with Egypt would not open on Wednesday as planned, accusing Hamas of failing to comply with the deal agreed last week by delaying the return of the bodies of hostages. Israel retracted the threat on Wednesday.
The Palestinian Centre for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons urged Israel on Tuesday to provide all available information on bodies returned to Gaza, including “names of the victims and details about the circumstances of their deaths”.
The centre said it received information that some of the bodies that were transferred on Tuesday were only partial remains, raising concerns about the circumstances of their death and detention, reports the Associated Press (AP).
It called for Israel to immediately release all bodies in its custody, as well as provide information about the fate of forcibly disappeared Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza two years ago. The centre said between 8,000 and 9,000 Palestinians have been missing or forcibly disappeared since the start of the war.
Away from Gaza and Israel, Syria’s interim leader held talks on Wednesday in Russia during his first visit to the country.
Welcoming interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa at the Kremlin, Russian president Vladimir Putin praised the historic links between Moscow and Damascus, and he voiced hope for their expansion. The meeting underlines Russia’s desire to establish working ties with Syria’s new leadership and secure a military foothold in the country, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday the future of the Russian bases in Syria was on the talks’ agenda.
Syrian state news agency Sana reported that al-Sharaa and Putin will “discuss regional and international developments of mutual interest and explore ways to develop cooperation to serve the common interests of both countries”.
According to the AP, Al-Sharaa did not mention the Russian bases in his brief televised remarks at the start of the meeting but emphasised the “long historic relationship” between the countries and their “common interests,” noting that Syria still partially depends on Russian production and expertise, particularly in the energy field. He said:
We are trying to restore and define in a new way the nature of this relationship.
Aid trucks roll into Gaza as Israel resumes preparations to open Rafah crossing
Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday and Israel resumed preparations to open the main Rafah crossing after a dispute over the return of the bodies of dead hostages that had threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas, reports Reuters.
Israel had threatened to keep Rafah shut and reduce aid supplies because Hamas was returning bodies too slowly, showing the risks to a truce that has stopped two years of devastating warfare in Gaza and freed all living hostages held by Hamas.
However, the militant group returned more Israeli bodies overnight, and an Israeli security official said on Wednesday preparations were under way to open Rafah to citizens of Gaza, while a second official said that 600 aid trucks would go in.
A German foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday that reported executions by Hamas in Gaza in clashes with local clans constitute acts of terror against the population.
However, the spokesperson said that Germany sees an unchanged need to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians, reports Reuters.
The health ministry said the bodies of 19 people have been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours.
They include 16 bodies that were recovered from under the rubble, the ministry said in its daily report, according to the Associated Press (AP). Hospitals also received 35 injured.
The death toll from the Israel’s war in Gaza now stands at 67,938 since 7 October 2023, the ministry said. Another 169,638 have been injured, it added.
The ministry said it did not add the 45 bodies that Israel transferred to Gaza on Tuesday to its tally.
Palestinian Authority representatives are touring Europe to try to convince countries that have not yet recognised a Palestinian state to get onboard, a presidential envoy said during a visit to Switzerland on Wednesday.
Former Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, now serving as special envoy for president Mahmoud Abbas, told reporters that he had met Switzerland’s top diplomat to push Berne to join “the countries who recognise Palestine”, Reuters reports. He said he would be travelling on to the Netherlands and Austria with the same message.
“Another delegation will be going to the Baltic states, [and] our president hopefully will visit Italy and Germany,” he told the briefing, organised by the UN correspondents association ACANU.
A majority of European nations now recognise a Palestinian state, after official declarations last month by the UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and others against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.
A number of non-European states like Australia and Canada have also recently joined their ranks, in moves criticised by Israel.
The Egyptian Red Crescent said 400 trucks carrying food, fuel, and medical supplies were bound for the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The announcement comes as Israel and Hamas fight over the slow return of the bodies of deceased hostages.
On Tuesday, the Israeli defence body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza, Cogat, notified humanitarian organisations that it would allow into Gaza only half the 600 daily aid trucks called for under the deal.
It was not immediately clear whether it was following through on the threat. Cogat declined to comment on the number of trucks expected to enter Gaza on Wednesday, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
The European Union said on Wednesday it is on standby to deploy a longstanding humanitarian mission, known as the EU border assistance mission (EUBam), at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza if conditions on the ground improve.
Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the European Commission said the EUBam remains on standby to deploy to the Rafah crossing point “as soon as conditions allow.” He did not elaborate on those conditions. El Anouni added:
We remain on standby and we stand ready to deploy at short notice.
Forensic authorities in Gaza have started the identification process of 45 bodies of Palestinians that Israel released on Tuesday as part of the ceasefire deal, according to the health ministry. Israel is expected to transfer more bodies, though the total number has not been announced.
Israel handed over the bodies through the Red Cross without identification, the Associated Press (AP) reports. It was not immediately known if they were Palestinians who died in Israeli prisons or bodies taken from Gaza by Israeli troops. During the war, the Israeli military has exhumed bodies as part of its search for the remains of hostages.
At Nasser hospital, forensic experts at the morgue were taking photos of each body and whatever belongings and clothes were found in the body bag, the hospital said. The photos will then be published on the health ministry’s website so people can identify them.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang welcomed Avinatan Or from “two unimaginable years in Hamas captivity” in Gaza, saying a number of the companie’s families had suffered losses during the war.
An electrical engineer at Nvidia in Israel, 32-year-old Or was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023 along with 250 others including his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, whose desperate cries on the back of a motorcycle became one of the most haunting images of the Hamas attack.
“Avinatan – welcome home. Your safe return brings profound relief and joy to the entire Nvidia. We are here for you and for your family as you begin this next chapter of healing,” Huang wrote in a letter sent to Nvidia employees and seen by Reuters.
Or was released on Monday after 738 days in captivity by Hamas, in a US-brokered deal to end the two-year war in Gaza.
Video footage showed Or arriving at Beilinson hospital near Tel Aviv after his release, accompanied by his family and by Argamani, who spent 246 days in Gaza and was rescued by Israeli soldiers.
Citing testimonies from the hostages and initial medical reports, Israeli media said Or was starved and lost up to 40% of his body weight. He was completely isolated and did not see other hostages.
Huang wrote that “night after night” Nvidia employees had stood in a vigil with Or’s mother Ditza. He noted that for two years, thousands of Nvidia employees in Israel served in the military.
“Many have faced immense pain, loss, and uncertainty. Some have lost family members or loved ones,” he said. “The losses to our Jewish, Druze, and Arab families alike have been immense.”
Here are some of the latest images coming through on the newswires:
Dharna Noor
Israel’s siege on Gaza, which has killed one in every 33 locals, has also decimated infrastructure and ecosystems, according to a new report.
The war in Gaza, which UN groups have said is a genocide, has left more than 300 water wells damaged or inaccessible while taking a major toll on the capacity of desalination plants. As a result, water availability has plummeted to as little as 8.4 litres per person per day, says the paper from the Arava Institute in Israel and Damour for Community Development in Palestine. That is far below the World Health Organization’s emergency minimum of 15 litres daily.
Sewage in Gaza constitutes another public health crisis. Because the war has disabled treatment facilities, raw effluent is being diverted into open lagoons or seeps into porous soil, contaminating the aquifer and creating ideal conditions for waterborne disease outbreaks.
Israeli troops have also damaged more than 80% of croplands in Gaza, erasing local food production capacity and leaving more than 90% of Gaza’s population in crisis-level food insecurity.
With waste management infrastructure destroyed, people have also been forced to resort to burning waste. This has filled the air with particulate matter, raising risks for respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Meanwhile, only up to 6% of hazardous medical waste is being safely disposed of, creating additional biohazards.
Some experts have said Israel’s treatment of Gaza constitutes “ecocide“ and should be investigated as a possible war crime.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was back in a Tel Aviv court on Wednesday for the latest hearing in his long-running corruption trial, which opened in May 2020.
The prime minister kept a smiling face as he and his entourage of several ministers from his conservative Likud party were heckled by protesters en route to the tribunal, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
It comes after US president Donald Trump suggested on Monday that the Israeli premier should be pardoned in his three separate corruption cases.
His latest appearance at the Tel Aviv court also follows the return of the hostages taken by Hamas as part of Trump’s US-brokered plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza.
In one case, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods, including champagne, cigars and jewellery, from billionaires in exchange for political favours. In two other instances, Netanyahu is also charged with attempting to negotiate better press coverage from two Israeli media outlets. He has denied any wrongdoing, claiming to be the victim of a political plot.
In an address on Monday to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, Trump told the chamber that Netanyahu should receive a pardon in the graft cases. “Cigars and champagne, who the hell cares about that?” Trump joked, before asking his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog: “Why don’t you give him a pardon?”
The Israeli premier is also subject to an arrest warrant issued by the international criminal court (ICC) on suspicion of ordering war crimes in his government’s assault on Hamas militants in Gaza.
Netanyahu holds the record for the most years spent at the head of Israel’s government, having served 18 years in several stints as premier since 1996.
Donald Trump suggested he might resort to violent methods to disarm Hamas after it was agreed in a ceasefire deal that the militant group would give up its weapons.
You can listen to Trump’s comments and view our video report below:
Mohammad Shtayyeh, special envoy to president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas said an agreement with the EU border assistance mission (EUBam) to help the authority manage the Rafah crossing effectively, which was paused in March as hostilities recommenced, is still valid.
“We don’t need a new agreement. The agreement is there, and I think now it’s in the final shape of putting all the bits and pieces together for it to function,” he told reporters in Geneva on a visit to Switzerland where he met Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis.
Daniel Boffey
One of the four bodies handed over by Hamas on Tuesday night was not a missing hostage, the Israeli military have said (see earlier post), as the country’s far-right security minister called for a total halt on humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The bodies of four people were released late on Tuesday evening after the Israeli government threatened to keep the Rafah road between Gaza and Egypt closed and to halve the expected flow of aid over Hamas’s failure.
The Israeli government was reacting to the despair and anger of grieving families that only four of the missing 28 deceased hostages had been released on Monday when the 20 living men came home.
The ceasefire agreement requires Hamas to return 28 Israeli bodies in exchange for 360 Palestinians killed in the war in Gaza.
Hamas told mediators it had lost nine of them under the rubble caused by recent bombing but the Israeli government has accused the organisation of putting insufficient effort to recovering the dead.
The government appears to have relented on their threats over the Rafah road and aid after Hamas provided four more bodies on Tuesday evening but forensic investigators have only so far identified three of the dead as Israeli.
Speaking on Tuesday, Itamar Ben Gvir, who is a security minister despite having been convicted in 2007 of racist incitement and supporting groups on terrorism blacklists, said Hamas was “playing games”.
He said:
Enough with the disgrace. Moments after opening the crossings to hundreds of trucks, Hamas very quickly returned to its known methods – to lie, to cheat, and to abuse families and the bodies. This Nazi terror understands only force, and the only way to deal with it is to erase it from the face of the earth.
Ben Gvir called on Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue “a clear ultimatum to Hamas: if you do not immediately return all the bodies of our fallen and you continue with these delays, we will immediately halt all aid supplies entering the Strip”.
The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday it is prepared to operate a key crossing for aid between Egypt and Gaza.
Mohammad Shtayyeh, special envoy to president of the authority, Mahmoud Abbas, said:
Now we are ready to engage again, and we have notified all parties that we are ready to operate the Rafah crossing.
