Hamas gives Israel another captive body, vows to return rest

Hamas handed over to Israel the remains of one more captive on Friday night, after insisting it was committed to returning all the deceased still unaccounted for under Gaza's ruins after two years of war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that the body of the deceased hostage has been identified as 75-year-old Eliyahu Margalit.

The Israeli military "informed the family of the abductee Eliyahu Margalit... that (the body of) their loved one has been returned to Israel and his identification has been completed", Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

It added that "we will not compromise... and will spare no effort until we return all of the fallen abductees, down to the last one".

The remains of the hostage who died in captivity were transferred to Israeli security forces in Gaza via the Red Cross, and returned to Israel for identification at a medical analysis centre, the premier's office said on Friday night.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that the remains had been returned to Margalit's family.

Margalit was killed at Kibbutz Nir Oz during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack followed by the 2023-2025 war in Gaza, according to a military statement.

"Eliyahu, 75 years old at the time of his death... leaves behind a wife, three children, and grandchildren. His daughter, Nili Margalit, was also abducted and returned (under) the hostage release agreement in November 2023," the statement said.

"Hamas is required to fulfil its part of the agreement and make the necessary efforts to return all the hostages to their families," it added.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement Friday night that the group "continues to uphold its commitment to the ceasefire agreement... and it will continue working to complete the full prisoner exchange process".

Under a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas spearheaded by US President Donald Trump, the Palestinian group has returned all 20 surviving hostages and the remains of 10 out of 28 known deceased ones.

Under the terms of the agreement Hamas was to hand over all of the hostages, dead and alive, before Monday at 0900 GMT.

In exchange, Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails and halted the military campaign it launched in Gaza after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.

Bodies under Gaza rubble

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday reaffirmed his determination to "secure the return of all hostages", and his defence minister has warned that the military will restart the war if Hamas fails to do so.

Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad on Friday called those threats "unacceptable pressure tactics".

"The issue of the bodies is complex and requires time, especially after the occupation changed the landscape of Gaza," Hamad said in a statement.

"We will return the bodies and adhere to the agreement as we promised."

Turkey dispatched a team of specialists to help retrieve remains buried under the rubble, but the group was still waiting Friday for Israeli permission to enter the territory.

"It remains unclear when Israel will allow the Turkish team to enter Gaza," a Turkish official told AFP news agency, noting that the team's mission included locating both Palestinian and hostage remains.

A Hamas source told AFP the Turkish delegation was expected to enter by Sunday.

Gaza's civil defence agency, a rescue force that operates under Hamas authority, said more than 280 bodies had been recovered from the rubble since the ceasefire went into effect.

Aid enters Gaza

The ceasefire deal has seen the war grind to a halt after two years of agony for the captives' families, and constant bombardment and hunger for Gazans.

The UN's World Food Programme said on Friday it had been able to move close to 3,000 tonnes of food supplies into Gaza since the ceasefire took hold.

But it cautioned it would take time to reverse the famine in the Strip, saying all crossings needed to be opened to "flood Gaza with food".

Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza calls for renewed aid, with international organisations eagerly awaiting the reopening of southern Gaza's strategic Rafah crossing.

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said he entered Gaza on Friday, where he watched a convoy of aid head to Rafah from Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing and later visited a bakery making pita bread.

"We've begged for this access for months and finally we're seeing goods moving at scale: food, medicine, tents, fuel, a lot of fuel got in today," he said, in a video message posted to social media.

Identifying the dead

Families of surviving hostages rejoiced in their return while others buried the returned remains of their loved ones.

"We've been waiting for this for so long, two years that we've been fighting for him every single day," said 30-year-old Gal Gilboa Dalal, the older brother of Guy Gilboa Dalal, who was released after two years in Hamas captivity.

"Their bones hurt, their muscles hurt. Their recovery will be very long," she told AFP.

At the Nasser Hospital in Gaza, meanwhile, families searched for their loved ones among the bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel.

One, Akram Khalid al-Manasra, told AFP he identified his son "thanks to the birthmark on his nose and his teeth".

Others were clearing the rubble from their destroyed homes.

"I'm right under the threat of death. It could collapse at any moment," said Ahmad Saleh Sbeih, a Gaza City resident. "But there is no choice."

The war has killed at least 67,967 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory -- figures the United Nations considers credible.

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to Israeli figures.