Gaza ceasefire live: Hamas says two more bodies of Israeli hostages to be returned as Israel says body handed over is not one of the hostages | Gaza

Further to my last post, Hamas’ armed wing has said it has decided to hand over the bodies of two deceased hostages in Gaza at 10pm local time tonight, Reuters is reporting. I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.

The United Nations is seeking a dramatic boost in humanitarian aid for Gaza, saying the hundreds of relief trucks cleared to enter the devastated enclave under a ceasefire were nowhere near the thousands needed to ease a humanitarian disaster.

Tom Fletcher, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and its top emergency relief coordinator, told Reuters in an interview that thousands of humanitarian vehicles must enter weekly to avert further catastrophe.

“We have 190,000 metric tons of provisions on the borders waiting to go in and we’re determined to deliver. That’s essential life-saving food and nutrition,” Fletcher said.

Israel’s two-year air and ground war against Palestinian militant group Hamas drove almost all Gaza’s 2.2 million people from their homes, and famine is present in the north, global monitors say.

Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed after fresh clashes broke out along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and Islamabad carried out retaliatory airstrikes on the Afghan capital, Kabul, and Kandahar province.

The two sides declared a ceasefire by Wednesday night after the latest outbreak of violence, which came after the deadliest cross-border clashes in years over the weekend.

Both countries accused the other of sparking the violence. Pakistan’s military said the Afghan Taliban had carried out “unprovoked fire” on major border posts close to the Kurram district and the crossing between the Chaman and Spin Boldak districts on Tuesday evening. It said it had retaliated with mortar fire and drone strikes, killing 20 Taliban fighters.

Pakistani security sources confirmed that the air force had also carried out strikes on headquarters of Taliban forces in Kandahar province, where the cross-firing reportedly began, and on targets in Kabul.

Images showed the “friendship gate” at the Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing had sustained significant damage in the attacks, and it remained closed for the day. Hundreds of people fled Pakistani border villages overnight and local residents reported cross-border firing, strikes and drone deployment that lasted into the evening. In Kandahar province, residents said many people along the border areas had also been fleeing.

Pjotr Sauer

The Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, travelled to Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Vladimir Putin, marking their first meeting since the fall of the Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad and his subsequent exile in Russia.

The talks underscored Moscow’s efforts to safeguard its military foothold in Syria and forge relations with the new rulers in Damascus, with both sides taking a pragmatic approach despite having been enemies only a year ago.

The meeting is notable given that Sharaa, a former jihadist, led the successful rebellion against the Moscow-backed Assad regime last year, in which his rebel forces briefly came under fire from Russian jets before Moscow withdrew its support for the Assad family.

Speaking in the Kremlin, Sharaa said his government respected all previously signed agreements between Damascus and Moscow, indicating that Russia would be allowed to retain its military bases in Syria, though the exact scale of their presence remains unclear.

Sharaa’s visit comes after Moscow was forced to postpone a long-planned summit with Arab leaders after a series of cancellations by regional heavyweights preoccupied with Gaza peace talks.

In his remarks, Putin said Russia had “always based its relations with Syria on the interests of the Syrian people”, adding that the relationship “has always been exclusively friendly”.

Jason Burke

The only border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is expected to open to allow hundreds of trucks carrying desperately needed aid into the devastated Palestinian territory.

Aid agencies said on Wednesday they were hoping for an increase in humanitarian assistance, especially to the north of Gaza, to where more than 300,000 displaced people have returned in recent days.

Thousands of tonnes of aid, including food and medical supplies, has been loaded on to trucks waiting in Egypt or stockpiled elsewhere in the region, humanitarian officials said.

At least 400 trucks carrying aid were heading for Gaza, the Egyptian Red Crescent said on Wednesday afternoon, but it was unclear how long it would take for the convoys to complete border formalities and enter the territory.

It is 5pm in Gaza and Israel. Here is a summary of some of the key events reported on the blog so far today:

• The Israeli military said on Wednesday that one of the bodies handed over by Hamas the previous day as part of the ceasefire deal is not that of one of the hostages who was held in Gaza. Four bodies were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday to ease pressure on the fragile ceasefire, after the first four on Monday – when the last 20 living hostages were released.

• The families of former Gaza hostages Ouriel Baruch, Eitan Levy and Tamir Nimrodi, posted statements on social media after Israel’s forensic research laboratory confirmed the identities. Baruch was kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Nimrodi, who had been serving with the Israeli defence body overseeing humanitarian aid in Gaza, was taken by militants from the Erez border crossing. Levy was kidnapped while driving a friend to kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas attack.

• Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday and Israel resumed preparations to open the main Rafah crossing after a dispute over the return of the bodies of dead hostages that had threatened to derail the ceasefire deal with Hamas. Cogat declined to comment on the number of trucks expected to enter Gaza on Wednesday. Israel had threatened to keep Rafah shut and reduce aid supplies because Hamas was returning bodies too slowly.

• Israel’s far-right security minister called for a total halt on humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Speaking on Tuesday, Itamar Ben Gvir, who is a security minister despite having been convicted in 2007 of racist incitement and supporting groups on terrorism blacklists, said Hamas was “playing games”.

• Forensic authorities in Gaza have started the identification process of 45 bodies of Palestinians that Israel released on Tuesday as part of the ceasefire deal, according to the health ministry. Israel is expected to transfer more bodies, though the total number has not been announced.

• The Palestinian Centre for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons urged Israel on Tuesday to provide all available information on bodies returned to Gaza, including “names of the victims and details about the circumstances of their deaths”. The centre said it received information that some of the bodies that were transferred on Tuesday were only partial remains, raising concerns about the circumstances of their death and detention

• The health ministry said the bodies of 19 people had been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours. They include 16 bodies that were recovered from under the rubble, the ministry said in its daily report. Hospitals also received 35 injured Palestinians. The ministry said it did not add the 45 bodies that Israel transferred to Gaza on Tuesday to its tally.

• The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is expected to reopen to allow people to cross on Thursday with an EU mission expected to deploy there, two sources have told Reuters. According to the news agency, the sources did not specify what restrictions might be applied to those seeking to cross. The Israeli military and the office of the Israeli prime minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.

• Mohammad Shtayyeh, special envoy to president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas said an agreement with the EU border assistance mission (EUBam) to help the authority manage the Rafah crossing effectively, which was paused in March as hostilities recommenced, is still valid. “We don’t need a new agreement. The agreement is there, and I think now it’s in the final shape of putting all the bits and pieces together for it to function,” he told reporters in Geneva on a visit to Switzerland where he met Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis.

• The European Union said on Wednesday it is on standby to deploy EUBam at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza if conditions on the ground improve. Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the European Commission said the EUBam remains on standby to deploy to the Rafah crossing point “as soon as conditions allow.” He did not elaborate on those conditions.

• Under Gaza’s ceasefire deal, Israel freed dozens of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical personnel seized during raids on hospitals. But more than 100 remain in Israeli prisons, including Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, a hospital director who became the face of the struggle to keep treating patients under Israeli siege and bombardment. Despite widespread calls for his release, Abu Safiya was not among the hundreds of Palestinian detainees and prisoners freed on Monday in exchange for 20 hostages held by Hamas.

• Palestinian Authority representatives are touring Europe to try to convince countries that have not yet recognised a Palestinian state to get onboard, a presidential envoy said during a visit to Switzerland on Wednesday. Former Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, now serving as special envoy for president Mahmoud Abbas, told reporters that he had met Switzerland’s top diplomat to push Berne to join “the countries who recognise Palestine”.

• Israel’s siege on Gaza, which has killed one in every 33 locals, has also decimated infrastructure and ecosystems, according to a new report. The war in Gaza has left more than 300 water wells damaged or inaccessible while taking a major toll on the capacity of desalination plants. Sewage in Gaza constitutes another public health crisis, while Israeli troops have also damaged more than 80% of croplands in Gaza.

• Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was back in a Tel Aviv court on Wednesday for the latest hearing in his long-running corruption trial, which opened in May 2020. The prime minister kept a smiling face as he and his entourage of several ministers from his conservative Likud party were heckled by protesters en route to the tribunal.

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is expected to reopen to allow people to cross on Thursday with an EU mission expected to deploy there, two sources have told Reuters.

According to the news agency, the sources did not specify what restrictions might be applied to those seeking to cross.

The Israeli military and the office of the Israeli prime minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.

Aid trucks rolled into Gaza on Wednesday and Israel resumed preparations to open the main Rafah crossing after a dispute over the return of the bodies of dead hostages that had threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas, reports Reuters.

Israel had threatened to keep Rafah shut and reduce aid supplies because Hamas was returning bodies too slowly, showing the risks to a truce that has stopped two years of devastating warfare in Gaza and freed all living hostages held by Hamas.

However, the militant group returned more Israeli bodies overnight, and an Israeli security official said on Wednesday preparations were under way to open Rafah to citizens of Gaza, while a second official said that 600 aid trucks would go in.