Live: Israel dropped 153 tonnes of bombs on Gaza on Sunday

The US is speaking to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar and Azerbaijan about joining an international stabilization force, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two unnamed officials.

One of the sources said that rebuilding will only happen in “Hamas-free” zones.

Amnesty International is calling for the release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the former director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was detained and has been held in Israeli detention without charge or trial since December 2024. Although he was on the list of prisoners to be released on Monday, Israel removed the much-loved paeditrician from it. 

He has been tortured and starved while in prison, and has lost a significant amount of weight and has developed scabies, which is not being treated. He is due to undergo a hearing that will extend his "arbitrary detention" for another six months on Thursday, the human rights organisation said.  

“Tomorrow, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya faces a hearing to rubberstamp the extension of his arbitrary detention — without charges or trial – for another six months," Amnesty said.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paid tribute on Wednesday to 31 colleagues  - 29 were killed while on duty during Israel's war on Gaza and two were killed during Israeli attacks in the West Bank, Al Jazeera reported. 

“With hearts full of gratitude and solidarity, the PRCS family stands with our colleagues in Gaza whose courage, humanity, and unwavering commitment have kept the spirit of our humanitarian mission alive through the hardest of times,” said PRCS president Dr Younis al-Khatib.

“Our hearts ache for who we have lost and for all our staff and the Palestinian people. The last two years have been very difficult, primarily for Gazans and Palestinians as well. Liberation is on the way.”

US President Donald Trump told reporters during a news conference in Washington on Wednesday that he doesn't see a reason for the US military to get involved in Gaza.

"I don’t see that - no," Trump said. "I think we’re going to handle it very well.”

He also said the US military would not be needed to disarm Hamas. 

The government said, however, that it will send 200 troops to Israel to monitor the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, but none will be deployed inside Gaza.

A Palestinian photographer who was told his family was dead by Israeli guards while in detention, discovered they were alive after he was released on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.

Shadi Abu Sido was detained by Israel at al-Shifa Hospital on 18 March 2024. He is one of 1,900 Palestinians who were detained during Israel's war on Gaza.

While he was at his family of origin's house in Gaza, he was suddenly shocked to hear his wife's and children's voices.

"I heard her voice. I heard the voice of my children. I was astonished, it cannot be explained, they were alive," he told Al Jazeera. "I saw my wife and children alive". 

Almost 11,000 Palestinians are currently still being detained in Israel in grave conditions. A third of them are being held without charge. 

US President Donald Trump said he would consider allowing Israel to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to uphold its end of the ceasefire deal, CNN reported on Wednesday.

He said that he would greenlight Israel resuming fighting in Gaza if Hamas refused to disarm. “Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word," he told CNN in a phone call.

"If Israel could go in and knock the crap [out] of them, they’d do that. I had to hold them back. I had it out with Bibi,” in reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a statement saying it requires "significant efforts and special equipment" to retrieve the remaining bodies. 

“The resistance has adhered to what was agreed upon and has handed over all the living prisoners it has and the bodies it can access,” it said.

“As for the remaining bodies, they require significant efforts and special equipment to search for and retrieve them, and we are making great efforts to close this file.”

On Monday, the last 20 living Israeli captives were released by Hamas in exchange for 1,968 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

For Israel, it marked the end of a chapter of history where the fate of Israelis captured on 7 October 2023 had loomed over society.

For Palestine, meanwhile, more than 9,000 Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli jails – nearly double the number before Israel’s genocide in Gaza began.

Now, the bodies of the last dead captives are being recovered by Hamas and delivered to Israel.

Middle East Eye breaks down what we know about the Israeli captives, how they were freed and how some of them were killed.

You can read more here.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, says they will hand over two more bodies of captives at 10pm local time on Wednesday.

Hamas has returned the remains of eight of the deceased captives. Israel said that one of the bodies was not that of a former captive. In the ceasefire agreement, Hamas said that it would be difficult to locate the bodies immediately, as Gaza has been reduced to rubble. 

Israel is supposed to return the remains of 15 Palestinians for the remains of every Israeli captive, and has only returned 90 bodies so far instead of the corresponding amount of 105 bodies. 

The Gaza health ministry said on Wednesday that hospitals had received 35 injured Palestinians, as well as the bodies of 19 dead Palestinians - including 16 bodies recovered from under rubble - in the last 24 hours.

The Palestinian Centre for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons on Tuesday urged Israel to provide an official list of names for bodies that have been returned to Gaza.

It said that while some bodies were delivered intact, only the partial remains of others were delivered, “raising serious concerns about the circumstances of their deaths and the conditions of their detention”.

Israel delivered 45 bodies to Gaza on Tuesday evening. Some of the bodies, which were blindfolded and handcuffed, showed signs of "field execution".

The Israeli army on Wednesday killed one Palestinian in the east of Khan Younis in Gaza, according to the Nasser medical complex. 

Israel has returned the bodies of 45 more Palestinians through the International Committee of the Red Cross, bringing the total number handed over since the ceasefire deal to 90, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Medics told reporters on Tuesday that some of the bodies handed over on Tuesday were blindfolded and handcuffed, showing signs of “field executions”.

An Israeli government spokesperson on Wednesday said her government expects Hamas to return the bodies of the remaining captives. Only seven of an expected 28 have so far been returned, she said.

“Hamas … is required to uphold its commitments to the mediators and return all of our hostages as part of the implementation of this agreement,” a spokesperson told reporters.

“We will not compromise on this, and we will spare no effort until our fallen hostages return, every last one of them,” she added.

Hamas has so far released eight bodies from Gaza, but Israel has said one of the bodies that was returned did not match the captives who still remain in the enclave. But a Hamas source told Al Jazeera the Israeli claim was unfounded and that the body belonged to an Israeli soldier killed in Gaza in May 2024.

The spokesperson for Gaza Municipality Asim Alnabeh on Wednesday said that Israeli forces have "deliberately destroyed 56 central water wells across Gaza City."

In a live interview with Al Jazeera, he warned that the city is facing a severe shortage of drinking water, with available supplies covering less than 20 percent of residents’ daily needs.

Alnabeh added that Israel has also destroyed much of Gaza’s water and sewage networks, leaving the city’s infrastructure in near-total collapse.