Israel on Saturday returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to the Gaza Strip, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said, bringing the total number of bodies handed over under the current ceasefire arrangement to 135.
The transfer was carried out as part of a ceasefire agreement brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, which stipulates that Israel will return the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli repatriated by Hamas.
Late Friday, Hamas handed over the body of another Israeli hostage, marking the latest exchange since the truce began. According to the agreement’s terms, Hamas has so far returned the bodies of nine Israelis and one Nepalese student.
The Gaza Health Ministry said that some of the Palestinian bodies returned on Saturday showed signs of “abuse, beatings, handcuffing, and blindfolding.” Similar allegations had been made by the ministry in previous handovers under the ceasefire deal.
The Israeli military, however, strongly rejected the accusations, describing them as “Hamas’s false propaganda.”
“All the bodies returned so far are those of combatants who were killed in fighting inside the Gaza Strip,” the military told AFP on Friday.
The ongoing exchange of remains is part of a wider diplomatic effort to sustain the fragile ceasefire and build confidence between the two sides after months of devastating conflict in Gaza.
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