Israeli fire killed three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday, north of the southern city of Rafah, which remains under Israeli control, according to local health authorities, further testing the fragile US-backed ceasefire.
In a statement issued earlier on Monday, the Israeli military said forces identified “terrorists” who crossed the yellow line, which marks areas the army still occupies. It said they were advancing towards troops in southern Gaza, posing an immediate threat, before it struck them.
Medics said one of those killed was a woman. The identities of the two others were not immediately clear. The incident follows days of Israeli strikes on the enclave, provoking mutual accusations between Hamas and Israel over violations of the tenuous ceasefire that halted two years of war.
Residents said Israeli forces continued to demolish houses in the eastern areas of Rafah, Khan Younis and Gaza City, where forces continue to operate.
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The ceasefire, which came into effect on October 10th, has calmed most fighting, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the ruins of their homes in Gaza. Israel has withdrawn troops from positions in cities, and more aid has been allowed to enter.
Hamas turned over all 20 living hostages held in Gaza in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held by Israel. Hamas has also agreed to turn over the bodies of hostages, a process which is still incomplete and which it says is difficult, while Israel accuses Hamas of stalling.
But violence has not completely halted. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed 239 people in strikes on Gaza since the truce, nearly half of them in a single day last week when Israel retaliated for an attack on its troops.
Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed and it has targeted scores of fighters.
Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday it received 45 bodies of Palestinians killed by Israel whose bodies were in Israeli custody. Monday’s handover raised the number of Palestinian bodies Israel has returned to Gaza to 270.
Hamas has so far returned 20 of the 28 bodies of hostages that had been buried in Gaza.
Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson at the Gaza health ministry, said Nasser Hospital in Gaza received the bodies on Monday morning.
It comes a day after Palestinian militants returned to Israel the remains of three Israeli troops taken hostage on October 7th, 2023.
Israeli forces in Gaza received coffins carrying the bodies of three hostages, conveyed through the Red Cross, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office said. The remains will be transported to Israel for identification.
The positive identification of the Israeli troops’ remains marked another step forward for the tenuous, US-brokered ceasefire.
The military said the men were killed in the attack on southern Israel and their bodies were dragged by militants back to Gaza.
The office of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu identified the three 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.
Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10th, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 20 hostages, with eight now remaining in Gaza.
[ Higher education has been destroyed in GazaOpens in new window ]
US president Donald Trump said on Sunday he had spoken with Capt Neutra’s family, describing their relief and heartbreak.
“They were thrilled, in one sense, but in another sense, obviously, it’s not too great,” Mr Trump said.
Militants have released one or two bodies every few days. Israel has urged faster progress, and in certain cases it has said the remains were not those of any hostage. Hamas has said the work is complicated by widespread devastation.
Israel in turn has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians for each Israeli hostage returned. Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits.
Meanwhile, countries are still working on a UN Security Council mandate for an international stabilisation force in Gaza, and will decide on any troop deployments once a framework is complete, Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday.
Mr Fidan spoke after he and ministers from several Muslim-majority countries met in Istanbul to discuss the fragile US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza.
Some of the countries that met - which also included Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey - could contribute to the force envisioned to monitor the truce.
The leaders of the seven countries had met US president Donald Trump in New York in September, shortly before Israel and Hamas agreed on his ceasefire plan. The Istanbul talks also focused on the humanitarian situation in the enclave. - Reuters
