After the start of the truce, Hamas returned the 20 surviving hostages still in its custody and began the process of returning the remains of the dead.
Of the 17 bodies returned since the start of the ceasefire, 15 were Israelis, one was Thai and one was Nepalese.
Hamas has also returned another unidentified body that had not been listed among the 28 missing, as well as the partial remains of a deceased Israeli hostage who had already been recovered early in the war.
That incident drew outrage in Israel, which said the group had violated the agreement by returning the partial remains rather than the body of another hostage.
Israel has accused Hamas of not returning the dead hostages quickly enough, but the Palestinian group says it will take time to locate remains buried in Gaza’s ruins.
In its statement today, the Al-Qassam Brigades called on mediators and the Red Cross to provide the “necessary equipment and personnel to work on recovering all the bodies simultaneously”.
‘Warships opened fire’
Hamas and Israel have traded accusations of breaking the ceasefire.
A Hamas security source told AFP that Israel had carried out several airstrikes in the south at dawn local time, and that “warships opened fire towards the shores of Khan Younis”.
Earlier in the week, the Israeli military launched its deadliest night of bombing since the truce after one of its soldiers was killed in south Gaza, with the territory’s civil defence agency reporting more than 100 people killed.
Hamas denied it had anything to do with the attack, and Israel later said it had begun “renewed enforcement of the ceasefire”.
Father-of-five Hisham al-Bardai, who recently returned to his home in north Gaza’s Jabalia camp, told AFP that he had heard “gunfire several times from the occupation forces” during the night.
“The truce has begun, but the war hasn’t ended, and [Israel]’s policy of starvation continues,” he said, referring to Israel’s strict blockade on the entry of supplies into Gaza, which it eased after the ceasefire went into effect.
Like many Gazans who moved back to neighbourhoods previously under evacuation orders, Bardai found a collapsed building where his home once stood.
“Despite the widespread destruction in Jabalia camp, people are starting to return, even though the situation is dangerous,” the 37-year-old said.
‘No hope for life’
The implementation of the later stages of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan has yet to be agreed, particularly as it concerns disarming Hamas, establishing a transitional authority, and deploying an international stabilisation force.
The force is expected to be drawn from a coalition of mainly Arab and Muslim nations, and would train and support vetted Palestinian police, with backing from Egypt and Jordan, as well as secure border areas and prevent weapons smuggling.
The foreign ministers of Jordan and Germany insisted today at a conference in Bahrain that the international force has the blessing of the United Nations.
“We all agree that in order for that stabilisation force to be able to be effective in getting the job done, it has to have a Security Council mandate,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.
His German counterpart Johann Wadephul said such a mandate would be of the “utmost importance to those countries who might be willing to send troops to Gaza, and for the Palestinians”.
Many Gazans remain displaced and living in tents or makeshift shelters.
Sumaya Daloul, a 27-year-old living in a tent with her parents and siblings in Gaza City, said she did not have much hope for the future.
“I expect the suffering in Gaza to continue for years. There’s no hope for life to return, even partially,” she told AFP.
– Agence France-Presse
