Gaza death toll tops 69,000 amid remains exchang deal

Khan Younis: More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far, Gaza health officials said Saturday, as both sides completed the latest exchange of bodies under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire.

The latest jump in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered in the devastated Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began on October 10, and as other bodies are identified. The toll also includes Palestinians killed by strikes that Israel says target remaining militants.

Israel on Saturday returned the remains of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials there, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel.

He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was born in Argentina.

The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire’s initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. Families and supporters rallied again Saturday night in Tel Aviv for the return of all.

The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. It began with the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

Also Saturday, Israeli settlers staged two attacks on Palestinian farmers and others in the occupied West Bank as settler violence reaches new highs during this year’s olive harvest.

For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians. Ahmed Dheir, director of forensic medicine at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, said that the remains of 300 have now been returned, with 89 identified.

“We do not have sufficient resources or the DNA to match them with the martyrs’ families,” Dheir said. Unidentified ones will be buried

in batches.