Israel and Hamas carry out exchange of remains as Gaza death toll continues to rise

Israel and Hamas on Saturday completed the latest exchange of remains between the two sides, with the body of one hostage being returned to Israel and 15 Palestinians being returned to Gaza, according to officials in the territory.

The hostage was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was born in Argentina.

The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire's initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians.

Meanwhile, officials at the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that 69,169 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's offensive in the enclave. The ministry's figures do not distinguish between the deaths of civilians and militants.

The latest increase in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered from the rubble in Gaza since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel began on 10 October. At the same time, previously unidentified bodies were identified. A large number of Palestinians remain missing, the ministry added.

The fragile truce - which has nominally held despite 241 people being killed in Gaza since it began, according to the ministry - aims to end the most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.

Israel also said on Saturday that its soldiers had killed two militants who had approached troops, one in northern Gaza and another in the south.

The conflict began after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, with 251 taken hostage.

Settlers continue attacks in the occupied West Bank

Palestinian health officials said 11 people were injured in an attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including journalists, medics, international activists and farmers, as settler violence reaches new highs during the year's olive harvest.

The UN humanitarian office reported 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 said.

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

A video circulating in Palestinian media showed the inside of a West Bank hospital where the injured - bandaged and bloody - were brought from Saturday's attack on the town of Beita.

Jonathan Pollak, a longtime activist, told The Associated Press that he was picking olives when dozens of masked Israeli settlers, armed with clubs, descended, chasing them and lobbing rocks.

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. Pollak was hit in the head with a rock and taken to the hospital.

“It’s a pattern we see every day,” Pollak said. “This is just one finger in the iron fist of Israeli policy aiming to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land.”

There was no immediate Israeli comment.

Rights groups say that arrests for settler violence are rare, and prosecutions even rarer. Israel’s left-leaning 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 opened and closed without action being taken.