15 Palestinian bodies received under ceasefire exchange deal
Gaza’s children facing severe psychological toll after two years of war: UN
GAZA: Gaza’s Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis said it received the bodies of 15 Palestinians on Friday as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
In a statement, the hospital said that: “15 bodies of Palestinian martyrs arrived at Nasser Medical Complex as part of the thirteenth batch of the body exchange deal, bringing the total number of bodies received to 330 martyrs.”
Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.
Israel confirmed overnight that militants had returned the remains of Israeli hostage Meny Godard, killed at age 73 the day of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli military informed Godard’s family that “their loved one has been returned to Israel and that his identification has been completed”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
At the start of the truce, which came into effect on October 10, Hamas was holding 20 living hostages and 28 bodies of deceased captives.
It has since released all the living hostages and returned the remains of 25 dead hostages, in line with the ceasefire terms.
In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians.
Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of deceased hostages, while the Palestinian group says the process is slow because many are buried beneath Gaza’s rubble after two years of war.
Meanwhile, according to the UN, more than nine in 10 children in Gaza are displaying signs of aggressive behaviour linked to more than two years of the devastating Israeli war in the besieged enclave.
Issuing a warning that the children’s sense of stability and security has been eroded as key everyday services have collapsed, humanitarians insist that young Gazans will need “sustained, long-term efforts to recover”.
According to child safety partner assessments conducted in September, shared by the UN aid coordination office (OCHA), 93 per cent exhibited aggressive behaviour and 90 per cent were violent towards younger children.
Sadness and withdrawal are almost as common (86 per cent), along with disturbed sleep (79 per cent) and widespread refusal to study (69 per cent).
While a fragile ceasefire holds, the deadly violence and insecurity have not ended entirely, with Israeli military strikes near or east of the so-called “Yellow Line”.
This is where the Israeli military remains deployed, amounting to more than 50 per cent of the Gaza Strip, OCHA said. In an update, the UN aid office noted that access to the sea remains prohibited; it also cited reports that Palestinian fishers continue to be detained at sea by Israeli forces.
