Gaza hospital receives 15 Palestinian bodies under ceasefire exchange deal

Gaza's Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis said it received the bodies of 15 Palestinians on Friday as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement, the hospital said that: "15 bodies of Palestinian martyrs arrived at Nasser Medical Complex as part of the thirteenth batch of the body exchange deal, bringing the total number of bodies received to 330 martyrs."

Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.

Israel confirmed overnight that Hamas had returned the remains of Israeli captive Meny Godard, killed at age 73 on the day of the 7 October attacks.

The Israeli military informed Godard's family that "their loved one has been returned to Israel and that his identification has been completed", Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

At the start of the truce, which came into effect on 10 October, Hamas was holding 20 living and 28 bodies of deceased captives.

It has since released all the living captives and returned the remains of 25 dead captives, in line with the ceasefire terms.

In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians.

Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of deceased captives, while the Palestinian group says the process is slow because many are buried beneath Gaza's rubble after two years of bombardment.