Israeli forensics experts examine remains handed over by militants in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel on Tuesday said it had received remains handed over by Palestinian militants in Gaza to the Red Cross. They were believed to be remains of one of the two hostages still in the territory: an Israeli and a Thai national.

Israel’s government said the “findings” from Gaza had been taken for forensics testing. Palestinian media said they were located in Gaza’s northern town of Beit Lahiya.

The remains of 26 hostages taken in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war have already been returned since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire began on Oct. 10.

Palestinians killed in Gaza

Israeli fire killed at least four Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, according to local hospitals.

An Israeli drone strike killed a videographer in the south, said officials at Nasser Hospital, which received the body.

Mahmoud Wadi was killed in Khan Younis, the hospital said. Wadi owned a drone photography company that once specialized in filming occasions like weddings. More recently, it posted footage of Gaza’s destruction.

Also Tuesday, one man was shot dead near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital. Another man was killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza City neighborhood of Zeitoun, and a boy was killed by an artillery strike on a house east of Gaza City that also wounded 10 others, according to Al-Ahli Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that troops operating in Gaza had killed three people it said posed a threat when they crossed into areas Israel controls in the territory. It said troops fired on two people in southern Gaza and one in northern Gaza, though it was not immediately clear if these were the same casualties as those reported by hospitals in Gaza.

The army had no immediate comment on the report of an artillery strike east of Gaza City.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 350 Palestinians have been killed across the territory since the ceasefire. Both Hamas and Israel have accused the other of breaking the terms of the truce.

The initial 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed around 1,200 people while 251 were taken hostage. Almost all of the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says the Palestinian toll has topped 70,100. The ministry operates under the Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Violence in the West Bank

Israel’s military has also pushed forward its operations in the occupied West Bank, shooting and killing two Palestinians on Tuesday it accused of attacking soldiers.

The military said troops shot and killed a suspect who stabbed and lightly wounded two soldiers as they confronted him near an Israeli settlement in the central West Bank. It said the incident was under review. In the southern West Bank, the army said it fatally shot a Palestinian who had carried out a car-ramming attack that wounded a soldier. The army said the man attempted to flee as they tried to arrest him.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the suspects as an 18-year-old from north of Ramallah and a 17-year-old resident of Hebron.

Israel’s military has stepped up its activities in the West Bank since the war in Gaza began. Israel says the offensive is aimed at rooting out militants. Palestinians say scores of stone-throwers, protesters and uninvolved civilians have been killed.

In recent weeks, Israeli settlers have increased attacks on Palestinian civilians.

Israel demolishes family homes in West Bank

Israeli forces on Tuesday demolished the family home of Abdul Karim Sanoubar, a suspected Palestinian militant in detention on accusations of planting bombs on buses in central Israel in February. The military said the explosives in the planned attack didn’t detonate.

Israeli troops later traveled to Aqabah town in the West Bank to demolish the house of a man accused of carrying out a shooting attack in which one person was killed, the military said.

Israel says home demolitions are meant to deter future attackers, but critics say they amount to collective punishment against the families of assailants and only exacerbate tensions with Palestinians.

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Magdy reported from Cairo and Janetsky from Jerusalem.

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Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war