Gaza hospital receives 15 Palestinian bodies from Israel under ceasefire exchange deal
Khan Younis, Gaza - Gaza's Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis 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 Hamas had returned the remains of Israeli hostage Meny Godard, killed at age 73 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.
Cover photo: Bashar TALEB / AFP
