Israel has handed over bodies of 30 Palestinians

Deir Al-Balah: The Red Cross and hospital officials in Gaza say Israel has handed over the bodies of 30 Palestinians, a day after Palestinian militants in Gaza turned over the remains of two hostages to Israel.

A doctor at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis confirmed receiving the bodies and said they were all unidentified. The Red Cross said that its teams had facilitated the transfer.

The exchange is the latest indication that the fraught Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is moving forward, despite deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza this week that killed more than 100 people following the death of an Israeli soldier.

Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric unit at Nasser Hospital, confirmed to the AP Friday morning that the hospital received the unidentified bodies of 30 Palestinians from Israel. He said all the bodies of Palestinians received through the ceasefire deal thus far have arrived without identification details.

Photos showed the remains, clad in white body bags, arranged in rows inside the grounds of Nasser Hospital. Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits. The return brings the number of Palestinian bodies returned by Israel to 225.