Israel hands over bodies of 45 Palestinians after Hamas returns the
remains of 3 soldiers
[November 04, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA and JULIA FRANKEL
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel handed over the bodies of 45
Palestinians on Monday, the Red Cross said, a day after militants
returned the remains of three hostages. Israeli officials identified the
three as soldiers who were killed in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7,
2023 that triggered the war in Gaza.
The exchange marked another step forward for the tenuous, U.S.-brokered
ceasefire intended to end the deadliest and most destructive war ever
fought between Israel and Hamas.
Since the truce took effect on Oct. 10, Palestinian militants have
released the remains of 20 hostages, with eight now remaining in Gaza.
For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains
of 15 Palestinians. With Monday's return, the bodies of 270 Palestinians
have been handed back since the start of the ceasefire.
Slow identification process in Gaza
The Red Cross said it had facilitated the transfer of 45 Palestinian
bodies to Gaza on Monday morning. Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson at the
Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that Nasser Hospital
received the bodies around noon.
Only 78 of the bodies returned so far have been identified, the ministry
said. Forensic work is complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits in
Gaza, it added. The ministry posts photos of the remains online, in the
hope that families will recognize them.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office
identified the three hostages, whose bodies were returned to Israel on
Sunday night, as Capt. Omer Neutra, an American-Israeli, Staff Sgt. Oz
Daniel and Col. Assaf Hamami. A Hamas statement earlier said their
remains were found on Sunday in a tunnel in southern Gaza.
Neutra was 21 when Hamas militants abducted his tank crew during the
2023 attack. In December 2024, the military announced Neutra had been
killed in the attack.
Daniel, 19, was part of the tank crew and was taken into Gaza. Nimrod
Cohen, who was also in the tank, was released alive earlier, as was the
body of one of the other crew members.
“Our hearts are shattered, yet at last we can begin the process of
bringing Omer to his final resting place in the land he loved and
defended," Neutra's mother, Orna, told reporters Monday in Tel Aviv.
She and husband Ronen thanked Israeli troops, U.S. President Donald
Trump and U.S. negotiators, who played a leading role in brokering the
ceasefire. But they did not thank Netanyahu, who many families of
hostages blame for prolonging the conflict and endangering captives.
“The IDF soldiers and the U.S. administration fought for his life,”
Ronen Neutra said.
Hamami, commander of Israel’s southern brigade in the Gaza division, was
killed during the 2023 attack while fighting to defend Kibbutz Nirim and
his body was taken into the Palestinian territory.
Militants have released one to three bodies every few days. Israel has
pushed to speed up the returns and in certain cases has said the remains
were not those of hostages. Hamas has said the work is complicated by
widespread devastation.
Arrests of 2 ex-military figures rock Israel
A political scandal continued to rock Israel involving the military's
former legal chief, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who admitted to
leaking a video of Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting a Palestinian
detainee and resigned from office.
Far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security
minister, said Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested Sunday night. At a court
hearing Monday, the judge extended her detention until Wednesday,
according to a copy of the decision. It said she is being held on
suspicion of offenses including fraud, breach of trust and obstruction
of justice. The investigation continues while she is held in a women’s
prison in central Israel.
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Palestinian women mourn over the body of Jamil Hanani, 17, who,
according to health authorities, was killed after being shot in the
chest during an Israeli raid, at his funeral in the West Bank
village of Beit Furik, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi
Mohammed)
Police conducted a frantic search for Tomer-Yerushalmi on Sunday
after her family raised concerns about her safety and police found
her abandoned car near the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel’s Channel 12
reported. Police said she was found soon after the search began.
Israeli media reported that former chief military prosecutor Col.
Matan Solomesh was also arrested overnight and his detention was
also extended.
The Palestinian detainee who was the subject of sexual abuse in the
video leaked by Tomer-Yerushalmi last year was released and returned
to Gaza on Oct. 13, according to documentation from the military
prosecutor's office obtained by the AP.
2 Palestinians killed in the West Bank
Two Palestinians, one of them a teenager, were killed by Israeli
gunfire Sunday night in separate incidents in the Israeli-occupied
West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah.
Jamil Hanani, 17, was killed in the town of Beit Furik, the ministry
said Monday. Israel’s military said soldiers opened fire at
Palestinians hurling rocks, hitting one person. Hanani’s death
extends a surge in military killings of Palestinian youth in the
West Bank during an upswing in violence since the start of the war.
Also Sunday, Ahmed Al-Atrash, 32, was fatally shot by an Israeli
settler at an entrance to the city of Hebron, the ministry said.
Israel’s military referred the AP to the police, who did not
immediately comment. Hundreds of hard-line settlers live in
fortified enclaves under military protection in the city of more
than 200,000 Palestinians.
Efforts to ramp up Gaza aid and a vaccination campaign
U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will be in Jordan on Monday,
with plans to visit a warehouse where British aid remains stuck
waiting to enter Gaza.
Ahead of the visit, Cooper said that “humanitarian support is
desperately needed and the people of Gaza cannot afford to wait.”
“Following the U.S.-led peace process and the plans for a
substantial increase in aid for Gaza, we need an increase in
crossings, an acceleration in lifting of restrictions and more
agencies able to go in with aid,” Cooper said.
Cooper also announced that Britain will provide an extra 6 million
pounds ($7.9 million) of humanitarian support for Gaza, provided by
the U.N. Population Fund.
Also Monday, Gaza’s Health Ministry announced that a campaign to
vaccinate some 40,000 Palestinian children under 3 years old against
preventable diseases like measles, polio and meningitis will kick
off next week. It will focus on children who missed routine
vaccinations or received only partial doses due to the war, Dr.
Nedal Ghoneim, the Health Ministry’s public health manager, told the
AP.
The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel two years ago killed about
1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s military offensive
has killed more than 68,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to
Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians
and combatants. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and
staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed
as generally reliable by independent experts.
Israel, which has denied accusations by a U.N. commission of inquiry
and others of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the
ministry’s figures without providing a contradicting toll.
___
Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Renata
Brito in Jerusalem; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Natalie
Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; Jill Lawless in London and Aamer Madhani
in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
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