US officials in Israel to press truce forward as first phase of Israel-Hamas ceasefire wanes
DEIR AL-BALAH Gaza Strip AP Israel on Monday returned the remains of Palestinians to Gaza in the latest step forward for a U S -brokered ceasefire as a top White House envoy met with Israeli leaders to discuss the next stages of the fragile agreement Israel returned the bodies after Palestinian militants disclosed the remains of a hostage Sunday With the latest exchange only four bodies of hostages remained in Gaza As the first stage of the agreement reached its waning days U S President Donald Trump s son-in-law Jared Kushner met on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem according to a photo published by the premier s office The last ceasefire agreement in January fizzled after the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners with Israel launching a wave of airstrikes over Gaza At the time mediators were unable to bring Hamas and Israel to the table to negotiate troop withdrawal and future governance of the strip They face a similar challenge now as the next stage of the agreement calls for the implementation of a governing body for Gaza and the deployment of an international stabilization force It is not clear where either stands The latest exchange of bodies The Gaza Fitness Ministry stated the Red Cross handed over the Palestinian bodies Monday raising the total number received to For each Israeli hostage returned Israel has been releasing the remains of Palestinians The ministry part of the Hamas-run authorities and staffed by clinical professionals maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts Only of the bodies returned so far have been identified the ministry announced Forensic work is complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits in Gaza The ministry posts photos of the remains online in the hope that families will recognize them The handover came after Israel on Sunday validated it had received the remains of Hadar Goldin a soldier killed in the Gaza Strip in closing a painful chapter for the country The -year-old was killed two hours after a ceasefire took effect in that year s war between Israel and Hamas Goldin s family waged a constituents campaign for years to bring home his remains Earlier this year they marked days since his body was taken Israel s military had long determined that he had been killed based on evidence located in the tunnel where his body was taken including a blood-soaked shirt and prayer fringes His remains had been the only ones left in Gaza predating the current war between Israel and Hamas Around people mostly civilians were killed in the Hamas-led attack on Oct on southern Israel which sparked the war and people were kidnapped On Saturday Gaza s Vitality Ministry declared that the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has risen to US agents try to push ceasefire forward Netanyahu s office did not right away say what he and Dermer had discussed in his Monday meeting with Kushner Kushner a top adviser to Trump was a key architect of Washington s -point ceasefire plan The deal that took effect Oct has focused on the first phase of halting the fighting releasing all hostages and boosting humanitarian aid to Gaza Details of the second phase including deploying an international defense force disarming Hamas and governing postwar Gaza haven t yet been worked out Kushner was helping to lead negotiations to secure safe passage for - trapped Hamas militants in exchange for surrendering their weapons after the release of Goldin s remains according to someone close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the talks Hamas has made no comment on a practicable exchange for its fighters stuck in the so-called yellow zone which is controlled by Israeli forces though they acknowledged that clashes were taking place there Find more of AP s Israel-Hamas coverage at https apnews com hub israel-hamas-war Source
