Israel hands over 15 bodies of Palestinians in last stage of captive swap

Palestinians still waiting for the Red Cross to turn over the bodies either in Khan Younis or Gaza City.

Israel has handed over the bodies of 15 Palestinians to the International Committee of the Red Cross in exchange for the final Israeli captive, whose remains were recovered by Israeli forces earlier this week, closing the chapter on this part of its more than two-year genocidal war on Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza, said Palestinian authorities are still trying to determine whether the bodies of the Palestinians will be released at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis or at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City later on Thursday.

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On Wednesday, Israel laid to rest policeman Ran Gvili, who was killed during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.

Of the 251 captives taken by Hamas and other Palestinian groups that day, Gvili’s were the last remains held in the Palestinian territory.

At his funeral on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Gvili as a “hero of Israel” and warned Israel’s enemies that they would pay a heavy price if they attacked again.

The return of all the captives from Gaza dragged on over the course of Israel’s war in a series of ceasefire and prisoner-swap deals as well as some mostly failed attempts to rescue them militarily.

The most recent set of captives-for-prisoners handovers was part of the ceasefire that took effect on October 10.

While all the captives held in Gaza have been returned to Israel, thousands of Palestinians continue to languish in Israeli prisons, many without charges or trials.

A July 2024 report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that Israel was holding about 9,400 Palestinians as “security detainees”, often without giving them a reason for their detentions, in facilities where abuses such as torture and sexual assault were rife.

In November, the rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel released a report stating that of the Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, at least 94 have died during detention from causes such as torture, medical neglect, malnutrition and assault. The report said the true number is likely much higher.

Dozens of bodies of Palestinian prisoners that have been returned in previous exchanges have shown signs of torture, mutilation and execution.

Meanwhile, Palestinians are awaiting the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Israel has been pushed by Washington to do as part of the current United States-brokered ceasefire with Hamas.

After the completion of the captive-prisoner exchanges, that agreement calls for a political transition in Gaza that will start with a committee of Palestinian technocrats in charge of day-to-day governance of the enclave.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the group was ready to transfer the governance of Gaza to the committee.

“Protocols are prepared, files are complete and committees are in place to oversee the handover, ensuring a complete transfer of governance in the Gaza Strip across all sectors to the technocratic committee,” Qassem said.

The committee is to work under the supervision of the Board of Peace, created and chaired by US President Donald Trump. Its work promises to be difficult.

On Thursday, Gaza’s Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal warned that the besieged territory is experiencing an “unprecedented catastrophe” due to the lack of shelter and food as well as shortages of medical supplies due to a continued Israeli blockade.

Also on Thursday, mourners buried the bodies of two Palestinians who, according to medics, were killed by Israeli gunfire in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis governorate outside the “yellow line”, or the 58 percent of Gaza still occupied by Israeli forces.