Hamas armed wing says it will hand over the body of a hostage on Wednesday, as airstrikes continue in Gaza

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CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Hamas’ armed wing said it would hand over the body of a hostage at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Wednesday, while the Israeli military said it had killed two Palestinians who had approached an area it occupied in a “threatening” way.

Gazan health authorities said that Israeli fire had killed a Palestinian collecting firewood in central Gaza. The Israeli military told Reuters it was not aware of an incident in that area.

Despite near daily violence, Israel and Hamas have continued to exchange bodies of the deceased under the terms of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect on October 10.

Hamas turned over all 20 living hostages held in Gaza in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held in Israel. Hamas also promised to turn over the remains of deceased hostages, but says the devastation in Gaza has made locating bodies difficult. Israel accuses Hamas of stalling.

Hamas has so far returned 21 of the 28 bodies of hostages buried in Gaza. In return, Israel handed over 285 bodies of Palestinians had killed since the war began in October 2023, Gaza health authorities said.

Israel has continued to intermittently strike the Gaza Strip, although the degree of violence has diminished since the ceasefire allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the ruins of their homes and more aid to enter.

Israel has withdrawn troops from positions in cities to behind a yellow demarcation line.

The ceasefire was mediated by the United States, and both sides have appealed to Washington to halt violations.

(Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi, Pesha Magid, Menna Alaa El-Din and Muhammad Al Gebaly; Editing by Alison Williams and Sharon Singleton)