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Israel Hands Over Bodies of 30 Palestinians, Gaza Hospital Officials Say

Some of the thirty body bags containing the corpses of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel and released as part of the hostage exchange deal, are laid out in the grounds of the Nasser Medical Complex, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2025. (AFP)
Some of the thirty body bags containing the corpses of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel and released as part of the hostage exchange deal, are laid out in the grounds of the Nasser Medical Complex, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2025. (AFP)
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Israel Hands Over Bodies of 30 Palestinians, Gaza Hospital Officials Say

Some of the thirty body bags containing the corpses of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel and released as part of the hostage exchange deal, are laid out in the grounds of the Nasser Medical Complex, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2025. (AFP)
Some of the thirty body bags containing the corpses of Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel and released as part of the hostage exchange deal, are laid out in the grounds of the Nasser Medical Complex, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2025. (AFP)

Israel has handed over the bodies of 30 Palestinians, Red Cross and hospital officials in Gaza said Friday, a day after Palestinian militants returned the remains of two hostages to Israel. 

A doctor at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis confirmed receiving the bodies and said they were all unidentified. The Red Cross said that its teams had facilitated the transfer. 

The exchange was the latest indication that the fraught Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is moving forward, despite Israeli strikes on Gaza this week that killed more than 100 people following the killing of an Israeli soldier. 

Gaza and Israel grapple with latest exchange of bodies

Ahmed al-Farra, head of the pediatric unit at Nasser Hospital, confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday morning that the hospital received the unidentified bodies of 30 Palestinians from Israel. 

Photos showed the remains, in white body bags, arranged in rows inside the grounds of Nasser Hospital. Health officials have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits. 

The return brings the number of Palestinian bodies returned by Israel to 225, only 75 of which have been identified by families, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It is unclear if those returned were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war, died in Israeli custody as detainees or were recovered from Gaza by troops during the war. 

The bodies returned had been “torn apart and exhumed,” Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said in a post on X. 

“Their flesh had melted, their faces erased by fire, leaving behind only bones and teeth,” he said. 

The Israeli military has previously told The Associated Press that all bodies returned so far are those of combatants, a claim the AP was unable to verify. The military has said it operates in accordance with international law. 

Al-Bursh said recently that many of the bodies handed over appear to be fighters or others killed during the 2023 attack. Several relatives who have identified the bodies of family members said they weren’t fighters. 

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late Thursday that the remains returned by Palestinian fighters had been confirmed as those of Sahar Baruch and Amiram Cooper, both taken hostage during the 2023 attack. 

Hamas has now returned the remains of 17 hostages since the start of the ceasefire, with 11 others still in Gaza and set to be turned over under the terms of the agreement. 

On Friday a small crowd of Israelis gathered in the plaza known as Hostages Square, praying together for the return of the dead hostages still in Gaza. 

“We cannot give up until everybody, all the bodies, will be here," said Rimona Velner, a Tel Aviv resident who joined the gathering. “It’s very important to the families and for us ... to close this circle.” 

Warning to Hamas  

A senior US official and a second source familiar with negotiations said that in messages passed to Hamas by mediators on Wednesday, Israel warned the group that its fighters had 24 hours to leave the yellow zone or face strikes. 

That deadline passed Thursday evening, after which the senior US official said that “Israel will enforce the ceasefire and engage Hamas targets behind the yellow line.” Hamas did not respond to a request for comment. 

On Friday, Shifa hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiya said that one person had been killed by Israeli gunfire in northern Gaza. Israel's military said its troops had fired after the person approached troops in a way that posed a threat. 

Government officials from eight Arab and Muslim nations will gather in Istanbul on Monday to discuss the next steps for Gaza, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Friday. 

The talks follow a meeting between the countries' leaders and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations Security Council, preceding the ceasefire agreement. They mark the latest effort to create an International Stabilization Force in Gaza, outlined in a 20-point US plan. 

The ceasefire, which began Oct. 10, is aimed at winding down a war that is by far the deadliest and most destructive of those ever fought between Israel and Hamas. 

In the October 2023 attack on Israel, Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage. 

In the two years since, Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 68,600 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and is staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts. 

Israel, which some international critics have accused of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the figures without providing its own tally. 

Israeli fire kills teen in West Bank 

In the central West Bank town of Silwad on Friday, mourners thronged the streets for the funeral of Yamen Hamed, 15, who Palestinian health officials say was shot by an Israeli soldier overnight. Samed Yousef Hamed kissed his son goodbye. 

Samed said his son left home Thursday to hang out with friends. Soon after, he learned the teen had been injured and Israel's army was preventing an ambulance from reaching him.  

Ahed Smirat, the ambulance driver who tried to reach Hamed following the shooting, told the AP that troops held him up multiple times. By the time they let him through, troops told him the teen had died, he said. 

Israel’s military called the teen a “terrorist” and said troops had fired believing that he was holding an explosive, but did not provide any evidence to support that characterization. Hamed's funeral was Friday. 

The shooting is the latest in a surge of military killings of Palestinian children in the West Bank that has accompanied a general upswing in violence in the territory since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Some were killed during Israeli military raids in dense neighborhoods, others by sniper fire in peaceful areas. 

The killings have risen as the Israeli military has stepped up operations in the occupied West Bank since the war’s onset in what it calls a crackdown on fighters. 

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Arab World

New Battlefronts in Yemen Leave Houthis in Disarray

Armed forces celebrate their advances in al-Jawf. (X)
Armed forces celebrate their advances in al-Jawf. (X)
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New Battlefronts in Yemen Leave Houthis in Disarray

Armed forces celebrate their advances in al-Jawf. (X)
Armed forces celebrate their advances in al-Jawf. (X)

The Yemeni army and the National Resistance made progress on the ground on Monday across fronts in the Taiz, al-Bayda, and al-Jawf governorates, amid successive collapses and retreats among the Houthis. Al-Jawf is witnessing tribal mobilization in support of government forces following their field advances.

Yemeni army media announced that government forces secured a tactical breakthrough on the al-Bayda front, successfully liberating the Hayd al-Khazzan and al-Falhan areas up to the al-Nasifa region. The development allows the forces an advantage to sever Houthi supply lines between the central and southern governorates.

The advance coincided with the establishment of control over all hills and plateaus overlooking the al-Zaher district.

The director of media for the al-Bayda governorate, Aref Al-Amari, confirmed that the armed forces have tightened their control over the strategic highlands overlooking al-Zaher.

He noted that forces are currently combing al-Nasifa in preparation for an advance toward the Dhi Naem area, a development that strengthens the position of government forces in the governorate.

Spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces Colonel Maeen al-Nuzaili said the forces are achieving progress and victories on the al-Jawf and al-Bayda fronts as part of operations "aimed at restoring state institutions and ending the Houthi coup."

He called on the group's operatives to abandon their positions with their light weapons to save their lives.

On the western front, the Joint Forces managed to secure a vital artery in al-Kadha connecting Taiz city to the western coast, following the defeat of Houthis stationed in the controlling highlands.

Government forces targeted massive Houthi military reinforcements west of Taiz city, leaving heavy losses in lives and equipment.

Comprising more than 21 military vehicles, they were heading to support the al-Barh and Maqbanah fronts.

Meanwhile, tribes were mobilizing in al-Jawf to support the armed forces against the Houthis. According to local sources, the tribes moved toward the al-Yatma district.

Arab World

Assad-era Syrian Reactor was Configured for Nuclear Weapons, IAEA Chief Says

The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 6, 2023 (Reuters)
The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 6, 2023 (Reuters)
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Assad-era Syrian Reactor was Configured for Nuclear Weapons, IAEA Chief Says

The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 6, 2023 (Reuters)
The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 6, 2023 (Reuters)

The Assad-era government in Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor that was configured to produce fissile material for possible use in nuclear weapons, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday.

The “configuration” and the “technical features” of the nuclear reactor under construction in Syria during the leadership of ousted former President Bashar Assad were “very efficient in the production of fissile material that could be directly used for the fabrication of nuclear weapons,” IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said.

“Of course, that was never declared, that was always denied, so, and again, intentions cannot be judged, but that was a very serious proliferation concern that we had, and this has been difficult work,” he told reporters on the first day of a regular meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, in Vienna.

Syria was believed to have operated an extensive undeclared nuclear program under Assad that included a nuclear reactor built by North Korea in eastern Deir Ezzor province.

Following Assad’s ouster, the new government agreed to give IAEA inspectors access to suspected former nuclear sites.

During a visit to Syria in August, IAEA inspectors confirmed that “the cooling infrastructure which has now been uncovered is consistent with that of a nuclear reactor.” Grossi and a team of senior inspectors also visited a previously undeclared site in the country.

Syria notified the agency of the site’s existence in a July 17 letter and invited the IAEA “to cooperate with the Syrian authorities in the inspection and verification of the site and of any nuclear material to be potentially found.”

The IAEA said in its confidential report circulated to member states last Tuesday and seen by The Associated Press that this new site contained “natural uranium metal in the form of fuel rods with cladding.” The agency verified the material and confirmed “the presence of around 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal.”

Grossi said when the inspectors visited the site in August they had to “tear down walls” and go through “very difficult and narrow passages” to reach the nuclear material that had been hidden. The site had “boxes scattered all over the place,” he said.

Grossi said that “the important thing is that this material now is under safeguards” of the IAEA, adding that agency inspectors had managed to install cameras at the location, The AP reported.

Asked if the nuclear material will remain in Syria or be removed, Grossi said that this is “a matter that the Syrian government will have to decide.” He added: “We are not requesting them to do this or to do that. For us what’s important is that we know all the time where this (material) is until the last gram.”

Logan Mintz, a director for nuclear materials security at the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, said that natural uranium metal is not directly usable for a nuclear weapon but it could be “diverted to a covert weapons program that further processes it into plutonium for a nuclear weapon.”

She said that once deemed safe to move, the material could be “transported in certified containers” to a third country that can “safely and securely disposition it into a more chemically stable and more widely used form” for possible use in nuclear power plants.

“As with any transport of nuclear material, this movement would require robust security from theft or sabotage,” she said.

Arab World

Syria Arrests Assad-era General Accused of Deadly Repression

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria Arrests Assad-era General Accused of Deadly Repression

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Syrian authorities on Monday said they had arrested a former general accused of involvement in the bloody repression of protests in 2011 that sparked the country's civil war and the 1982 Hama massacre.

In a statement, security forces said they "arrested former Major General Mohammed Ali Durgham, a prominent officer in the military establishment during the era of the former regime" of Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in 2024.

They accused him of "issuing direct orders to his units to fire on unarmed demonstrators in the Damascus countryside" after anti-Assad protests had erupted in 2011.

Durgham was a field commander in the army's feared Fourth Division, commanded by Assad's brother Maher al-Assad, between 2009 and 2013.

Human Rights Watch in 2011 quoted a Syrian army defector who said that Durgham was one of the generals who "ordered the troops to shoot at protesters when his unit was deployed to areas in and just outside of Damascus".

He has been under European Union sanctions since 2012.

Bashar al-Assad's crackdown turned the nationwide movement into a 13-year-long civil war that killed more than half a million people.

Authorities said Durgham had started "as a squad commander in the Defense Brigades during the events in Hama Governorate in 1982".

On February 2, 1982, amid an information blackout, Assad's father and then-Syrian president Hafez al-Assad launched a brutal crackdown in the central Syrian city of Hama against an armed Muslim Brotherhood revolt.

Survivors who witnessed extrajudicial executions told AFP that the authorities spared no one, with government forces killing men, women and children.

The death toll of the 27 days of violence has never been formally established, though estimates usually range from 10,000 to 40,000, with some going higher still.

Since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in December 2024, Syria's new authorities have arrested dozens of former security officials, and trials began in April.

In August, Syria sentenced Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad and five other security officials to death in absentia for atrocities committed during the civil war, the first such ruling under the new authorities.

The former president fled Syria as his government was falling and is believed to be living in Russia.