Gaza death toll tops 69,000 as Israel and militants again exchange remains

KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip — More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far, Gaza health officials said Saturday, as both sides completed the latest exchange of bodies under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire.

The latest jump in deaths is attributed to more bodies being recovered under the rubble in the devastated Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began Oct. 10, and also because previously unidentified bodies were identified. It also includes Palestinians who have died in strikes on the territory since the truce took hold, attacks that Israel says are to kill remaining militants.

Israel on Saturday returned the remains of 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials there, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel. He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was born in Argentina.

The exchanges of the dead are the central component of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. Families and supporters rallied again Saturday night in Tel Aviv for the return of all.

The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. It began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 more hostage.

Also Saturday, Israeli settlers staged two attacks on Palestinian farmers, paramedics, activists and journalists in the occupied West Bank as settler violence reaches new highs during this year’s olive harvest.

‘I have not lost hope’

For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians. Ahmed Dheir, director of forensic medicine at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, said that the remains of 300 have now been returned, with 89 identified.

“We do not have sufficient resources or the DNA to match them with the martyrs’ families,” Dheir said. Unidentified ones will be buried in batches.

Hopeful families looked into body bags of decomposed remains. “Close it, it’s not him,” one family member said.

“I always come here. I have not lost hope. I am still waiting for him,” said the mother of a missing boy, who did not give her name.

The Health Ministry in Gaza said the total number of people killed in the territory during more than two years of war has risen to 69,169. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.

The ministry said 284 additional people were recently added to the cumulative total after their identities were verified between Oct. 31 and Nov. 7.

Over the last three days, 10 bodies were brought to Gaza hospitals — nine retrieved from under the rubble and one newly killed — along with six injured, the ministry said. It added that a large number of Palestinians remain missing. Since the ceasefire began, 241 people have been killed in Gaza, it said.

It added that a large number of Palestinians remain missing.

Israel’s military on Saturday said that soldiers killed two militants who had approached troops, one in northern Gaza and the other in the south.

Israeli settler attack

Palestinian health officials said 11 people were injured in an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank town of Beita, including journalists, medics, international activists and farmers.

Activists and medics have flocked to this year’s olive harvest to help Palestinian farmers safely reach and return from their fields.

The United Nations humanitarian office said that there had been more Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank in October than in any other month since the office began keeping track in 2006. There were more than 260 attacks, or an average of eight incidents per day, the office reported.

Jonathan Pollak, a longtime activist, told the AP that he was picking olives when dozens of masked Israeli settlers descended, armed with clubs, chasing people and throwing rocks. He was hit in the head and taken to the hospital.

Pollak said he saw five settlers converge on a journalist and her security guard. He watched the settlers beat and bludgeon her, denting her helmet, he said.

A Reuters spokesperson said that two colleagues were “attacked by a group of men with sticks and rocks,” despite identifying themselves as journalists, and both were injured. The spokesperson called on Israeli authorities to investigate and hold accountable those responsible.

Israel’s military said that it dispersed a confrontation “between Israeli civilians and Palestinians during an uncoordinated olive harvest in an area that requires prior coordination” and that several Palestinians had been injured.

Rights groups say that arrests for settler violence are rare, and prosecutions even rarer. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported in 2022 that based on statistics from the Israeli police, charges were pressed in only 3.8% of cases of settler violence, with most cases being opened and closed without any action being taken.

Also Saturday, Palestinian paramedics reported another settler attack in a nearby village, Burin. The Palestinian Red Crescent said settlers had injured four international activists and a 57-year-old man.

Israel’s military said that soldiers responded to a report of rock-throwing at an Israeli vehicle and that Israeli civilians then hurled rocks at harvesters. It said Israeli and Palestinian civilians were injured.

Associated Press writers Shurafa, Abou Aljoud and Frankel reported from Khan Yunis, Beirut and Jerusalem, respectively.