Israel confirms bodies of three captives returned by Hamas in latest handover

Israeli forensics confirmed on Monday the identities of three bodies handed over by Hamas as belonging to deceased Israeli captives Gaza.

The handover, which took place on Sunday night, was the latest under the fragile three-week-old ceasefire that has been repeatedly violated by Israeli forces, who have killed 236 people in Gaza and injured over 600 since it came into effect.

In a statement, the Israeli military said that the national forensics institute had confirmed that the remains were those of three soldiers, including the highest-ranking officer to be captured on 7 October 2023.

Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday it had found the bodies in a tunnel in southern Gaza.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office later confirmed that the remains were returned to Israel.

Hamas released the 20 living captives at the start of the truce and has been gradually handing over the bodies of the dead ones as it locates their remains under the rubble.

It has now returned 20 of the 28 deceased ones, including 18 Israelis, one Nepalese national, and one Thai.

Among the remains handed over on Sunday were Asaf Hamami, commander of the Gaza Division's Southern Brigade, Israeli-American citizen Omer Neutra, a soldier who was captured from a tank on 7 October, and Oz Daniel, a sergeant in the Israeli army.

The release of the dead captives has slowed in recent days, with Hamas saying it is struggling to locate the bodies under the rubble of the devastated territory. Egypt has sent in heavy equipment and specialist teams to help with the search.

Israel has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying their release and used this as a pretext to violate the ceasefire and kill more Palestinians in Gaza.

Last week, Hamas handed over the partial remains of a body already returned to Israel, leading to demands from extreme- right members of Netanyahu's governing coalition for an end to the ceasefire.

Netanyahu then launched a ferocious air assault that left more than 100 people dead in Gaza, including 52 children.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said that the latest handover showed it was "making every effort to return the bodies as quickly as possible".

Arab diplomats voice doubts on new US Gaza reconstruction plans

A US proposal to begin rebuilding Israel-occupied Gaza has reportedly received pushback from Gulf countries which the US wants to finance the reconstruction effort.

Israel currently controls more than half of Gaza after forcibly displacing the entire population into small areas next to the coast.

Almost all of the territory inside the so-called 'Yellow Line', which Israel has withdrawn to, has been almost entirely razed to the ground by Israeli forces.

The Trump administration has proposed to Gulf donor countries that around half a dozen residential areas be built in the eastern part of the strip over the next two years, despite Israel's continuing occupation, two Arab diplomats told The Times of Israel.

Under the Trump peace plan, Israel is supposed to gradually withdraw from the rest of the territory following Hamas's disarmament, the formation of a new Gaza authority, and the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force.

But with no agreement on these issues on the horizon, the US is trying to push ahead with the plan, which envisions as many as one million Palestinians being resettled in eastern Gaza even if Israeli forces remain inside the territory.

The Arab diplomats dismissed the proposal as highly unrealistic.

"Palestinians may not want to live under the rule of Hamas, but the idea that they’ll be willing to move to live under Israeli occupation and be under control of the party they also see as responsible for killing 70,000 of their brethren is fantastical," one of them told the Israeli outlet.