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

A senior Hamas source on Wednesday rejected Israel’s statement that the body of a slain person returned as part of the ceasefire deal did not belong to an Israeli captive.

“The body the enemy claims is not that of an Israeli actually belongs to a soldier captured in a resistance operation,” a senior Hamas source told Al Jazeera Arabic.

The source added that the operation to capture and retrieve the soldier’s body into one of the tunnels was carried out by Al-Qassam Brigades in the Jabalia camp in May 2024.

A European Union spokesperson on Wednesday said it is ready to deploy the EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, pending improvements in the conditions on the ground.

“EUBAM remains on standby to deploy to the Rafah crossing point in support of the Gaza peace plan as soon as conditions allow,” said Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the European Commission.

“We remain on standby and we stand ready to deploy at short notice," he told reporters without elaborating further.

The bodies of 25 people, and 35 wounded Palestinians have arrived at Gaza’s hospitals in the past 24 hours, the enclave’s health ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

The number includes 16 bodies newly recovered from the rubble and one person who died from their wounds.

The ministry said the Israeli attacks have killed at least 67,938 people and wounded 170,169 others across the enclave since the war began in October 2023.

The family of an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas has said he was killed by Israeli air strikes during the genocidal war on Gaza.

Tamir Nimrodi, whose body was returned to Israel on Tuesday as part of a ceasefire agreement, was taken alive by Palestinian fighters on 7 October 2023.

He was later killed in captivity during Israeli bombardments, according to his family and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

“Tamir was kidnapped alive from his base and killed by IDF [Israeli army] bombings in captivity,” the forum said in a statement.

The Israeli military confirmed that Nimrodi was captured alive and died at the start of the war, though it did not specify the cause of death.

Read more: Israel's bombing killed soldier captured by Hamas, family says

Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on the Shujaiya neighbourhood in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera, citing a medical source at the al-Ahli Hospital.

Israeli forces killed at least nine people across the Strip on Tuesday, despite an ongoing ceasefire.

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 captives that had threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Israel had threatened to keep Rafah shut and reduce aid supplies saying that Hamas was returning bodies too slowly.

However, Hamas returned more Israeli bodies overnight, and an Israeli security official said on Wednesday that preparations were underway to open Rafah to Gazan citizens, while a second official said that 600 aid trucks would go in.

The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday it is prepared to operate a key crossing for aid between Egypt and Gaza.

"Now we are ready to engage again, and we have notified all parties that we are ready to operate the Rafah crossing," said Mohammad Shtayyeh, special envoy to president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

The Israeli military said that the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match the DNA any of the captives after the completion of examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine.

“Hamas is required to make all necessary efforts to return the deceased hostages,” the army said in a statement on Telegram.

Israeli tanks fired at Palestinians in the town of Bani Suheila and the Sheikh Nasser neighbourhood, east of Khan Younis, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

An Israeli settler reportedly kidnapped four Palestinians from the village of Beit Ur al-Fawqa, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday evening, Wafa news agency said.

Local sources said that the settler also assaulted the Palestinians before kidnapping them under the Israeli military protection.

The same settler reportedly had attacked a young man from the same village yesterday and attempted to kidnap him.

Three of the four bodies of Israeli hostages in Gaza returned by Hamas late Tuesday have been identified, their families said on Wednesday following forensic confirmation of their identities.

"It is with immense sadness and pain that we announce the return of the body of our beloved Ouriel Baruch from the Gaza Strip, after two long years of prayer, hope, and faith," said the family of the Jerusalem resident who was kidnapped on 7 October, 2023.

Tamir Nimrodi and Eitan Levy's relatives also announced the return of their remains to Israel.

A Palestinian man was killed on Wednesday after being attacked by the Israeli forces in the town of al-Ram, north of occupied Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported.

Security sources said Israeli forces assaulted a 57-year-old man, fatally striking him on the head.

The Red Crescent said its crews received the slain man's body at the Qalandia checkpoint and transferred it to the Palestine Medical Complex.

Tamir Nimrodi, a captive soldier whose body was returned to Israel from Gaza on Tuesday, was killed by Israeli strikes, the families of Israeli captives said in a statement.

His family said in a statement earlier that he was “murdered” in Hamas captivity, according to the Times of Israel.

Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Mohammed Asaliya, a Palestinian doctor who was released from Israeli detention on Monday, has been hospitalised at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

The report said the doctor was suffering from convulsions and chest pain, reportedly following abuses in Israeli detention.

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza:

• An aid ship called “The Goodness” has departed from Turkiye’s Mersin port, carrying 900 tons of food and baby formula for people in Gaza, according to the Anadolu Agency.

• Israel decided to proceed with opening the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt and allowing the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza, after the return of the bodies of four captives, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Wednesday.

• The Times of Israel is reporting that Hamas has told mediators it is planning to return the bodies of four more Israeli captives later today.

• Despite the ceasefire, Israel has denied permission for most doctors who have asked to enter the territory to treat the sick and wounded, Al Jazeera reported, Dr Ahmed Mokhallati, a former head of plastic surgery at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, saying.

• Talks began on the second stage of the ceasefire, which involves Hamas' governance in Gaza, Haaretz reported, citing sources familiar with the ongoing discussions.

• Palestinian Information Centre is reporting that drones fly at low altitudes over the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood east of Gaza City, while the Israeli military fires artillery shells and gunfire.