As fragile Gaza ceasefire holds, Israelis lament incomplete return of dead hostages

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TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The tenuous ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was holding Tuesday even as the return of deceased hostages from Gaza progressed more slowly than Israelis had hoped and health officials in the devastated territory said the Israeli military fatally shot three Palestinians.

A day earlier, Israelis celebrated the return of the last 20 living hostages in Gaza and Palestinians rejoiced at Israel’s release of some 2,000 prisoners and detainees as part of the ceasefire’s first phase.

But now attention in Israel has turned to when Hamas will return all the bodies of hostages who died in captivity. While Israeli officials understood there could be some delay in the recovery effort, the families of hostages and their supporters expressed dismay that only four of the 28 bodies were returned on Monday.

The Hostages Family Forum, a grassroots organization representing many of the hostage families, called it a “blatant violation of the agreement by Hamas.” The top official in Israel coordinating the return of hostages and the missing, Gal Hirsch, told the families in a note that pressure was being applied on Hamas through international mediators to expedite the process. A copy of the note was seen by The Associated Press and its authenticity was confirmed by someone with knowledge of the statement.

In Gaza, the Health Ministry said Tuesday that the bodies of three people killed by the Israeli military in the northern part of the territory were taken to Al Ahli hospital. The Israeli military said troops there had “opened fire to remove the threat” of several people approaching them and not complying with orders to stop. It didn’t immediately comment on any casualties.

Under the ceasefire deal, Israeli forces pulled back to where they were in August, before launching their latest offensive on the Gaza City. The pullback leaves a number of hard-hit Palestinian neighborhoods under Israeli control, and Israel has warned residents not to try to return to homes there.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military identified two of the dead hostages returned from Gaza a day earlier — Guy Illouz from Israel and Bipin Joshi, a student from Nepal.

Both were in their 20s when Hamas-led militants took them during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on that ignited the war. Illouz was abducted from a music festival and Joshi from a bomb shelter.

Israel said Illouz died of his wounds while being held captive without proper medical treatment, while Joshi was murdered in captivity in the first months of the war.

The ceasefire plan introduced by U.S. President Donald Trump called for “all hostages, alive and deceased” to be returned within 72 hours of the agreement’s acceptance.

But it also provided a mechanism if that didn’t happen, saying Hamas should share information about any remaining deceased hostages and “exert maximum effort to ensure the fulfillment of these commitments as soon as possible.” The agreement signed last week also said Israel would provide information on the remains of Palestinians who died in Israeli custody.

Hamas and the International Committee of the Red Cross have said that, because of the widespread destruction in Gaza, recovering the hostages’ bodies is a big challenge.

The freed Israeli hostages were in medical care on Tuesday, and some families said it would be weeks before the men could go home.

Dalia Cusnir-Horn, whose brother-in-law, Eitan Horn, was released on Monday, said he had lost more than 40% of his body weight after receiving very little food and water in the last few months.

“He has a very, very long way to go,” she said on Tuesday. The physical toll was only part of the trauma, she said, because Horn also felt increasingly abandoned in captivity – and now has to deal with learning about the magnitude of what happened during the last two years.

“He’s just learning now … friends he knew that were murdered and he had no clue how many people were kidnapped on that day and what this country went through, and it’s overwhelming and it’s hard,” Horn said.

Moshe Levi, whose brother-in-law Omri Miran was freed from Gaza on Monday, spoke about Miran’s elation at playing with his very young daughters – one less than a year old when her father was taken hostage.

“He could feel like he’s a father again, and they could feel like they have a father figure in the household. It’s still surreal for them,” Levi said. “Luckily they recognized him immediately, despite the fact that it’s been 2 years and they didn’t see him in reality, but on a poster.”

In the West Bank and Gaza, where hundreds of prisoners and detainees were released, several were also taken to hospitals.

The Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah said it received 14 men released on Monday and discharged all but two.

Doctors examining the men said their conditions suggested they “were subjected to severe beatings, reflecting the extent of the violence they endured,” said Imed al-Shami, a resident doctor at the hospital.

AP could not independently verify the claims. Israel’s Prison Service did not respond to questions about the allegations.

Difficult questions remain about what happens next in Gaza, including whether Hamas will disarm and who will govern and help rebuild the territory. Also unanswered is the question of Palestinian statehood, which is a central concern across the region.

“The first steps to peace are always the hardest,” Trump had said as he stood with foreign leaders in Egypt on Monday for a summit on Gaza’s future. He hailed the ceasefire deal he brokered between Israel and Hamas as the end of the war in Gaza — and start of rebuilding the devastated territory.

On Tuesday, the U.N. development agency said the latest joint estimate from the U.N., the European Union and the World Bank is that $70 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza. Jaco Cilliers, a special representative for the agency, said $20 billion would be needed in the next three years, and the rest would be needed over a longer period — possibly decades.

In Egypt, Trump urged regional leaders to “put old feuds aside” as world leaders met to discuss the challenges ahead in securing a lasting peace. Representatives from Israel or Hamas were not at the summit.

The war has killed over 67,600 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half the dead, and many independent experts say its figures are the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

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Dell’Orto reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press journalists Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank; and Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al Balah, Gaza, contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war