Israel and Hamas have concluded the final exchange of captives under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States. On Thursday, the final exchange was held, with Israel transferring the bodies of 15 Palestinians to the International Committee of the Red Cross, completing a protocol that required it to return 15 Palestinian bodies for every Israeli hostage recovered.
The transfer followed the recovery of the remains of Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old Israeli police officer killed during the October 7, 2023, attacks. His body was located earlier in the week in a cemetery in northern Gaza. Gvili was the last remaining Israeli captive in the Gaza Strip, formally closing the chapter of the 251 hostages taken at the outset of the war.
The ICRC transported the Palestinian remains to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. While all Israeli hostages have now been accounted for, thousands of Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons. Since the truce began last October, Israel has released around 2,000 living Palestinian prisoners and returned 360 bodies.
Palestinian officials say identifying the remains has proven difficult, with families able to confirm the identities of only about 100 of the bodies so far. Gaza health officials and human rights groups have alleged that some of the returned bodies showed signs of torture, mutilation or summary execution, claims that Israel disputes but which have complicated forensic identification.
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For the first time since the war began more than two years ago, Israel acknowledged that approximately 70,000 Gazans have been killed. The figure broadly aligns with estimates long provided by Gaza’s health ministry, which Israel had previously challenged. The IDF maintains, however, that roughly 25,000 of those killed were Hamas fighters.
The causes of civilian deaths remain fiercely contested. International organisations have accused Israel of presiding over starvation deaths during the conflict. The IDF rejects this claim, stating that “no healthy persons died from starvation” and arguing that reported cases either involved pre-existing medical conditions or relied on what it calls fabricated statistics. Israeli officials say 112,000 aid trucks carrying around 1.7 million tonnes of food entered Gaza during the war. Gaza’s civil defence authorities dispute this narrative, warning that the enclave is experiencing an “unprecedented catastrophe” marked by acute shortages of food, shelter and medical supplies.
The ceasefire and exchanges form part of a wider post-war plan advanced by US President Donald Trump. Trump credited Hamas with playing a “big factor” in the return of hostages and expressed optimism that the group may be prepared to disarm. US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has confirmed that “Phase II” of the plan is now underway.
The next phase envisages the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the reconstruction of Gaza. Central to the proposal is a new governance arrangement, overseen by a US-chaired “Board of Peace”, which would supervise a committee of Palestinian technocrats responsible for administering the territory. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem has said the group is prepared to hand over governance to such a technocratic body. The United States has also spoken of establishing an “all-Arab” administrative framework for Gaza’s future.
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Despite the ceasefire, violence has not fully subsided. On the day of the final body exchange, the IDF carried out what it described as a “precise strike” on a Hamas operative in southern Gaza, whom it accused of planning an imminent attack. Palestinian sources reported that Israeli fire killed two people in Khan Younis and another in central Gaza. Gazan authorities say nearly 500 people have been killed by Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect in October.
Access to Gaza remains severely restricted. The Rafah crossing into Egypt has been largely closed since May 2024. While limited medical evacuations are being prepared, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the crossing will not yet be opened for commercial goods.
