The Latest: Israel says one body handed over wasn’t a hostage as aid trucks head for Gaza

The Israeli military says one of four bodies handed over by Hamas on Tuesday is not that of any of the hostages who were held in Gaza adding to the strain on the fragile ceasefire to end the two-year war Separately forensic experts in Gaza on Wednesday started identifying bodies of Palestinians that Israel handed over to the Red Cross the previous day without identification It wasn t straightaway clear whether the bodies were those of people who died in Israeli prisons or bodies taken from Gaza by Israeli troops Meanwhile the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza has resumed after a two-day break The Egyptian Red Crescent commented trucks carrying food fuel and therapeutic supplies were bound for the Gaza Strip on Wednesday while Israel and Hamas argue over the slow return of the bodies of deceased hostages Here s the latest Trump says Israeli forces could resume fighting Trump in an interview with CNN on Wednesday stated that Israeli forces could resume fighting if Hamas refuses to disarm Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word If Israel could go in and knock the crap of them they d do that he disclosed Speaking about the Israel Defense Forces and Netanyahu s administration he commented I had to hold them back and I had it out with Bibi He revealed Hams right now is going in and clearing out the gangs violent gangs But when solicited if Hamas was executing innocent Palestinians he declared I m doing research on it and We ll find out about it It could be gangs plus Cyprus ready to help with safeguard and humanitarian aid provision to Gaza The president of Cyprus says his authorities is ready to help with precaution and the provision of humanitarian aid and construction material to Gaza as part of U S President Donald Trump s -point peace plan for the Palestinian territory President Nikos Christodoulides narrated the Associated Press Wednesday that the detailed proposal was presented at this week s Gaza peace summit at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh It was compiled in consultation with the prime minister of Israel the presidents of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council Christodoulides didn t provide specific details about the proposal but commented that it would be discussed and refined further during next week s EU-Egypt summit that will precede a European Council meeting He noted the proposal builds on Cyprus initiative to establish a maritime corridor that in the last months shipped tons of donated humanitarian aid from the island s ports to Gaza primarily through the Israeli port of Ashdod Christodoulides announced Egypt commended the proposal WHO says it is now necessary to get urgent biological supplies into Gaza and rebuild hospitals Aid organizations are prioritizing moving aid trucks that have been sitting long at the borders into the Gaza Strip as the ceasefire holds and bringing in heavy machinery to rebuild destroyed hospitals commented the World Medical Organization on Wednesday Dr Hanan Balkhy head of WHO s eastern Mediterranean office reported the Associated Press in Cairo that it s necessary now to bring in urgent healthcare supplies medications and equipment and fuel to provide instant relief to people in Gaza Reinstalling warehouses is also a priority stated Balkhy Since the ceasefire agreement was signed and came into effect WHO sent eight trucks carrying wellbeing supplies including insulin and cold chain lab kits to its warehouse in Deir al Balah We re having a whole lot of hope that the ceasefire will be long lasting and that we can open up and do the work that we need to do with our other U N agencies and with our partners on the ground she added Ongoing WHO missions now are focused on picking up more trucks from Kerem Shalom traversing and resupplying hospitals WFP trucks arrive in Gaza The World Food Campaign declared its trucks began arriving inside the Gaza Strip Wednesday for the first time in two days after crossings were closed due to the release of hostages and prisoners exchange between Israel and Hamas Scaling up humanitarian aid into Gaza to hundreds of trucks going in daily is also part of the ceasefire deal However Israel mentioned Tuesday it would cut the number of trucks saying Hamas was too slow to return the bodies of hostages according to Our trucks crossed into Gaza but it s still early days in the ceasefire and the situation remains unpredictable declared Abeer Etefa WFP spokesperson We re hopeful that access will improve in the coming days Etefa stated fewer than WFP trucks made it through on Sunday We are scaling up our bakery and nutrition programs and have successfully begun organizing food distributions in several areas of Gaza Food distribution programs in Gaza have been hampered by widespread military operations Israeli restrictions chaos and insecurity Palestinians await identification of bodies Israel handed over Palestinians awaited information about the bodies that arrived at Nasser Hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the ceasefire deal The forensics band described disturbing conditions with the bodies bearing signs of physical abuse Sameh Hamad a member of a commission tasked with receiving the bodies at Khan Younis Nasser Hospital declared selected arrived with their hands and legs cuffed There are signs of torture and executions he advised The Associated Press The bodies he reported belonged to men ages to and the bulk of them still had straps around their necks while one had a rope he mentioned Though the greater part were brought in civilian clothing particular were in camouflage uniforms Hamad disclosed the Red Cross had provided names for only three of the dead leaving a great number of families in limbo Rasmiya Qudeih waited outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis hoping her son was among the bodies transferred on Wednesday God willing he will be she disclosed Israel is expected to hand over more bodies in the coming days though functionaries have not explained how a large number of are in its custody or how countless will be returned US top military official in the Mideast urges Hamas to stop shooting Palestinian civilians This came after reports that the group s fighters clashed with armed parties and killed alleged gangsters in what it described as an effort to restore law and order We strongly urge Hamas to at once suspend violence and shooting innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza in both Hamas-held parts of Gaza and those secured by the IDF behind the Yellow Line announced Admiral Brad Cooper of the United States Central Command referring to the initial ceasefire line dividing zones of control in Gaza He used an acronym of the Israeli military The call came a day after President Donald Trump declared the clashes left him unbothered and did not affect the agreement that could pave the way for Hamas disarmament Dozens pay respects to Guy Illouz Illouz was a hostage whose body was distributed from captivity on Monday Dozens gathered Wednesday on bridges in Tel Aviv overlooking the highway to pay their last respects as a convoy drove his body to the cemetery I came because I fought for them to come home and as I was happy for the ones who came back alive it s now time to bow our heads for those who didn t reported Shlomit Grouda a Tel Aviv resident as she stood on a pedestrian overpass with an Israeli flag UN humanitarian chief says Israel must allow more aid into Gaza The United Nations humanitarian chief warned Wednesday that hopes pinned on last week s ceasefire deal are slipping as aid groups again struggle to deliver needed supplies into Gaza to ease hunger malady and collapsing sanitation Tom Fletcher called on Hamas to make efforts to return the bodies of deceased hostages and Israel to allow for the surge in aid as stipulated in the agreement We made progress clearing roads and reopening bakeries We shared in the enjoyment and relief of families reunited But on the previous day we faced further setbacks to that implementation Fletcher the U N undersecretary for humanitarian affairs declared As Israel has agreed they must allow the massive surge of humanitarian aid thousands of trucks a week on which so numerous lives depend and on which the world has insisted he added pushing Israel to open more dividing line crossings to deliver aid into Gaza His remarks followed an announcement by COGAT the Israeli military body overseeing aid that only half the expected trucks would enter Gaza on Wednesday after two days of closure for hostage exchanges and Tuesday s Jewish holiday It was not this instant clear whether Israel would withhold deliveries amid questions about the return of deceased hostages COGAT declined to comment on the number of trucks expected to enter Gaza on Wednesday Bodies of more Palestinians returned to Gaza Israel has transferred the bodies of more Palestinians to Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal according to agents at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis An Associated Press journalist at the facility saw three trucks carrying the bodies arriving at the hospital Bodies recovered from under rubble brought to Gaza hospitals The Palestinian Vitality Ministry stated Wednesday the bodies of people have been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past hours They include bodies that were recovered from under the rubble the ministry explained in its daily assessment Hospitals also received wounded That has brought the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to since Oct the ministry declared Another have been wounded it announced The ministry stated it didn t add the bodies that Israel transferred to Gaza on Tuesday to its tally EU says it s ready to deploy humanitarian mission The European Union announced on Wednesday it is on standby to deploy a long-standing humanitarian mission known as EUBAM at the Rafah demarcation bridging in Gaza if conditions on the ground improve EUBAM remains on standby to deploy to the Rafah traversing point in help of the Gaza peace plan as soon as conditions allow reported Anouar El Anouni a spokesperson for the European Commission He did not elaborate on those conditions We remain on standby and we stand ready to deploy at short notice The European Edge Assistance Mission in Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt boundary began in The EU which has provided key aid for the Palestinian Authority pledged to help flood Gaza with humanitarian aid It announced it could extend a police patronage plan already operating in the West Bank to Gaza to buttress a stabilization force called for in the current peace plan from U S President Donald Trump Outrage over the war has riven the -nation bloc and pushed relations between Israel and the EU to a historic low Aid trucks head for Gaza The Egyptian Red Crescent disclosed at least trucks carrying food fuel and anatomical supplies were bound for the Gaza Strip on Wednesday The announcement comes as Israel and Hamas fight over the slow return of the bodies of deceased hostages On Tuesday the Israeli defense body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza COGAT notified humanitarian organizations Tuesday that it would allow into Gaza only half the daily aid trucks called for under the deal It was not this instant clear whether it was following through on the threat COGAT declined to comment on the number of trucks expected to enter Gaza on Wednesday Palestinian center seeks information on bodies returned The Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons urged Israel to provide all available information on bodies returned to Gaza including names of the casualties and details about the circumstances of their deaths The center declared it received information that specific of the bodies that were transferred Tuesday were only partial remains raising concerns about the circumstances of their death and detention It called on Israel to straightaway release all bodies in its custody as well as provide information about the fate of forcibly disappeared Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza two years ago The center explained between and Palestinians have been missing or forcibly disappeared since the start of the war Source