Palestinians are still waiting for the Red Cross in Khan Yunis or Gaza City.
Israel has handed over the bodies of 15 Palestinians to the International Committee of the Red Cross in exchange for the last Israeli prisoner, whose remains were Recaptured by Israeli forces Earlier this week, it closed the chapter on this part of its more than two years of genocidal war on Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud is reporting from Gaza, Palestinian officials are still trying to decide whether the bodies of the Palestinians will be released later Thursday at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis or Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
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On Wednesday, Israel held the funeral of policeman Ran Gwili, who was killed in a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Of the 251 captives taken by Hamas and other Palestinian groups that day, Gavili was the last remnant in the Palestinian territories.
At his funeral on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Gwili as “a hero of Israel” and warned Israel’s enemies that they would pay a heavy price if they attacked again.
The return of all the captives in Gaza has been dragged into a series of cease-fires and prisoner-swap deals during Israel’s war, as well as some mostly unsuccessful attempts to rescue them by military means.
The most recent set of cease-fires, which took effect on October 10, were part of a prisoner-for-prisoner exchange.
All detainees in Gaza have been returned to Israel, while thousands of Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons, many without charge or trial.
July 2024 report The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that Israel is holding around 9,400 Palestinians as “security detainees”, often without giving them a reason for their detention, in facilities where abuses such as torture and sexual assault are widespread.
In November by the rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel A report was released At least 94 of the Palestinian prisoners held in Israel have died in detention due to reasons such as torture, medical neglect, malnutrition and assault. Reports say the real figure is much higher.
Dozens of bodies of Palestinian prisoners returned from previous exchanges have been found to show signs of torture, mutilation and execution.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Thursday that the Israeli military “has for the first time accepted the number of Palestinians killed during the Gaza Health Ministry’s war of nearly 70,000.” Israel has repeatedly disputed the ministry’s death toll. More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the war began.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians are waiting Reopening of Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Washington has pushed for Israel as part of a United States-brokered ceasefire with Hamas.
After the prisoner-prisoner exchange is completed, the deal calls for a political transition in Gaza to begin with a committee of Palestinian technocrats that will be in charge of the enclave’s day-to-day governance.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the group was ready to hand over control of Gaza to the committee.
“Protocols have been drawn up, files have been completed and there are committees to oversee the handover, ensuring the full transfer of administration in all areas of the Gaza Strip to the Technocratic Committee,” Qassem said.
The committee will work under the supervision of the Peace Council created and chaired by US President Donald Trump. His work promises to be difficult.
On Thursday, Gaza’s civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal warned that the besieged territory was experiencing an “unprecedented disaster” due to the lack of shelter and food, as well as shortages of medical supplies due to the Israeli blockade.
Also on Thursday, mourners buried the bodies of two Palestinians who were killed by Israeli fire in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis governorate outside what doctors said was the “yellow line,” or the 58 percent of Gaza still occupied by Israeli forces.