Palestinian militants hand over remains of two more hostages to Red Cross in Gaza

JERUSALEM AP Israel s military explained Thursday that Palestinian militants handed over the remains of two more hostages in the latest indication that the fragile ceasefire agreement is moving forward despite Israeli strikes on Gaza this week The two sets of remains were given to the Red Cross in Gaza then transported into Israel by troops and taken to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification the Israeli military explained Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s office announced late Thursday that the remains had been established as those of Sahar Baruch and Amiram Cooper both taken hostage during the Oct attack by Hamas that set off the war Hamas has now returned the remains of hostages since the start of the ceasefire with others still in Gaza and set to be turned over under the terms of the agreement In return Israel has returned the bodies of Palestinians to officers in Gaza without providing details on their identities It is unclear if they were killed in Israel during the Oct attack died in Israeli custody as detainees or were recovered from Gaza by troops during the war Wellness functionaries in Gaza have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits Baruch was readying to pursue an electrical engineering degree when he was taken hostage from Kibbutz Be eri His brother Idan was killed in the attack Three months into Sahar s captivity the Israeli military stated he was killed during an attempted rescue mission He was Cooper was an economist and one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz He was captured along with his wife Nurit who was distributed after days In June Israeli personnel proven that he had been killed in Gaza He was Overnight strikes injure Authorities in southern Gaza announced Thursday that at least people had been injured in overnight strikes after Israel declared the ceasefire was back on Wednesday morning Mohammad Saar head of the nursing department at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza disclosed it received people wounded in overnight strikes on Khan Younis The Israeli army disclosed it carried out strikes on terrorist infrastructure that posed a threat to the troops in Khan Younis The area in southern Gaza is under the control of the Israeli military After strikes earlier this week killed more than people Israel revealed it was retaliating for the shooting and killing of one of its soldiers in Rafah the southernmost city in Gaza Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also explained that Hamas had violated provisions in the deal concerning the handover of remains of hostages Hamas denied any involvement in the deadly shooting and in turn accused Israel of violating the ceasefire deal Speaking at a graduation ceremony for military commanders in southern Israel Thursday Netanyahu warned If Hamas continues to blatantly violate the ceasefire it will experience powerful strikes as it did the day before the previous day and the previous 24 hours He reported Israel would act as needed to remove immediate danger to its forces At the end of the day Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized If foreign forces do this all the better And if they don t we will do it The ceasefire which began Oct is aimed at winding down a war that is by far the deadliest and majority of destructive of those ever fought between Israel and Hamas The war was triggered by the October attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants who killed about people and took others hostage In the two years since Israel s military offensive has killed more than Palestinians in Gaza according to Gaza s Wellbeing Ministry which doesn t distinguish between civilians and combatants The ministry which is part of the Hamas-run regime and is staffed by clinical professionals maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts Israel which a few international critics have accused of committing genocide in Gaza has disputed those figures without providing a contradicting toll