Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Progress: Bodies Exchanged as Tensions Persist in West Bank

Israel returned 15 Palestinian bodies to Gaza on Friday, according to officials at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, as part of the ongoing implementation of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

The return came after Hamas handed over the body of Meny Godard on Thursday, one of the last four remaining Israeli hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 attack. Godard was abducted from Kibbutz Be'eri in southern Israel, where his wife Ayelet was killed during the attack.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad's armed wings reported recovering Godard's body in southern Gaza. Since the ceasefire began on October 10, the bodies of 25 hostages have been returned to Israel, with three more still needing to be recovered. Additionally, Hamas returned 20 living hostages to Israel on October 13.

The ceasefire's first phase includes an exchange ratio where Israel releases the bodies of 15 Palestinians for each returned hostage. So far, Gaza has received 330 Palestinian bodies, though only 95 have been formally identified according to Gaza Health Ministry officials.

On Friday, 27 unidentified Palestinians were buried in Deir al-Balah. Gaza health officials noted that identifying the returned bodies remains difficult due to insufficient DNA testing kits.

Despite the ongoing exchanges, both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating other terms of the agreement. Israel claims Hamas has handed over partial bodies in some cases and staged body discoveries, while Hamas alleges Israel has opened fire on civilians and restricted humanitarian aid flow into Gaza.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk on Friday condemned recent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, urging an end to the violence and calling for Israel to hold perpetrators accountable. UN spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan reported that Turk demanded Israel end its "unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory" and halt all settlement activities.

Al-Kheetan noted that October saw more than 260 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, the highest monthly total since 2006. "We reiterate that the Israeli government's assertion of sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and its annexation of parts of it are in breach of international law, as the International Court of Justice has confirmed," he stated.

Recent incidents include Israeli settlers torching and defacing a mosque in a central West Bank Palestinian village on Thursday, following earlier violence where masked settlers set fire to vehicles and property in the Palestinian villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf.

The attacks prompted Israeli President Isaac Herzog to denounce them as "shocking and serious," while Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir stated the military "will not tolerate the phenomena of a minority of criminals who tarnish a law-abiding public."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed concern on Wednesday that events in the West Bank "could undermine what we're doing in Gaza." While Israeli officials characterize settler violence as the actions of a few extremists, Palestinians and rights groups maintain that such violence is widespread across the territory and conducted with impunity under Prime Minister Netanyahu's far-right government.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank reported that six teenagers aged 15 to 17 were killed by Israeli fire in four separate incidents over the past two weeks. The most recent occurrence on Thursday resulted in the deaths of two 15-year-old boys near Beit Ummar village.

The Israeli military claimed that in three of these incidents, soldiers were responding to "terrorists" throwing Molotov cocktails or explosives, or attempting a "terror attack." In one case, the military stated troops opened fire against rock-throwing Palestinians following "standard operating procedures" to "remove the threat."

The ceasefire agreement's next phases call for establishing an international stabilization force, forming a technocratic Palestinian government, and disarming Hamas.

This fragile agreement aims to end the war triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed approximately 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages. Israel's subsequent military offensive has killed more than 69,100 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which maintains detailed records generally considered reliable by independent experts.