The Gaza Health Ministry said it had also received the remains of 45 Palestinians from Israel through the Red Cross.
Israel has released five Palestinian prisoners as part of a fragile ceasefire agreement with Hamas, giving families in the Gaza Strip a rare moment of relief.
The five men released on Monday night were taken to Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah for medical examinations, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khudary newspaper reported from outside the facility.
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Relatives gathered at the hospital, some embracing the released prisoners and others anxiously seeking information about their missing loved ones.
“This is the first time since the ceasefire that Israeli forces have released unidentified Palestinian prisoners,” Caudalie said.
Thousands of Palestinians remain in prison in Israel, many of them without charge in what rights groups call arbitrary detention.
Israel returns Palestinian remains
Gaza’s Ministry of Health announced early Monday that it had received the bodies of 45 Palestinians from Israel through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), bringing the total number of bodies handed over under the ceasefire agreement to 270.
The ministry said in a statement on Monday that forensic teams have so far identified 78 bodies and will continue to examine them “in accordance with approved medical protocols and protocols” before returning the bodies to their families.
Authorities have previously reported that many of the bodies returned showed signs of torture and ill-treatment, with their hands bound, blindfolded and facial disfigurement, and many were returned without identification tags.
The handover is part of the first phase of a cease-fire agreement that took effect on October 10, and also includes an exchange of prisoners and bodies brokered by Turkiye, Egypt and Qatar, and the involvement of the United States.
“Many of the bodies returned had signs of torture,” said Koudary, reporting from Delibera in central Gaza. He added that families of missing Palestinians were still searching for relatives among the dead.
“If these bodies are not identified, they will be buried with other Palestinians in a mass grave in Deir el-Bala,” she said.
Israeli ceasefire violation
Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to carry out deadly attacks. An official at the Nasser medical complex told Al Jazeera Arabic that three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on Monday north of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The Israeli military announced that it had launched an attack on southern Gaza, claiming that the act of individuals crossing the “Yellow Line”, an Israeli-controlled area, was a violation of the ceasefire.
It has not been possible to independently verify the Israeli version of events. It also remains unclear whether Israeli forces were referring to the same attack that killed three Palestinians.
In Gaza City, a child was among three people injured in Israeli fire in the eastern part of the city, an official at Al-Ahly Arab Hospital told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera’s Tarek Abu Azizm, reporting from Gaza City, said Israel continued to use quadcopter drones to drop grenades on partially abandoned buildings. “Authorities describe these actions as a violation of the ceasefire,” he said.
Gaza’s government media office accused Israel of committing more than 125 violations of the ceasefire since it took effect, and warned that continued attacks could reignite full-scale hostilities.
