Gaza hospital receives 15 Palestinian bodies under US-brokered ceasefire exchange

Gaza’s Al-Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis announced on Friday, November 14, that it had received the bodies of 15 Palestinians transferred under the US-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

"Fifteen bodies of Palestinian martyrs arrived at Al-Nasser Medical Complex as part of the thirteenth batch of the body exchange deal, bringing the total number of bodies received to 330 martyrs,” the hospital said in its statement, cited by Arabian media.

According to the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is required to hand over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli whose remains are returned.

Israel confirmed overnight that militants had transferred the remains of Israeli hostage Meny Godard, who was 73 years old when he was killed during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that the Israeli military had notified Godard’s family that “their loved one has been returned to Israel and that his identification has been completed.”

At the start of the truce, which took effect on October 10, Hamas was holding 20 living hostages as well as the bodies of 28 deceased captives. Since then, the group has released all living hostages and returned the remains of 25 dead Israelis, in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

In return, Israel has freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and transferred the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians killed in previous confrontations.

Israel has accused Hamas of deliberately slowing the return of deceased hostages, while Hamas maintains that the process has been delayed because many bodies remain buried under the rubble across Gaza after two years of war.

By Tamilla Hasanova