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

Around 55 million tonnes of debris has to be cleared before reconstruction efforts in Gaza can begin, the UN Development Programme estimates after a visit on Thursday.

The overwhelming majority of Gaza has been reduced to rubble. In Gaza City alone, more than 80 percent of buildings have been damaged following Israel’s attacks, particularly in the past several weeks.

Supporters of an Israeli football team will not be allowed to attend the Europa League match in November at Aston Villa over public safety concerns, the English club said on Thursday.

British police said that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans would be banned from the game due to concerns about potential violence and hate crimes after Maccabi and AFC Ajax fans clashed in Amsterdam last year.

Israeli captive negotiator Gershon Baskin told CBS News on Wednesday that "many" of the Hamas leaders responsible for burying deceased Israeli captives had been killed by Israel, making it difficult to retrieve the bodies. 

"Many of the Hamas commanders who are responsible for burying these Israeli hostages are no longer alive," Baskin said. "They were killed by the Israelis."

He believed the current state of the Gaza Strip, which has been reduced to rubble by Israel's war on the enclave, and the landscape of unexploded bombs meant that "some of the deceased hostages may never be found".

Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News on Thursday that the US would help recover the remains of the 19 captives that have yet to be turned over.

The former national security advisor told Fox News that two US citizens were among the deceased captives in Gaza.

"We will do everything to get them out," Walz said. He added there was "an entire task force" comprised of senior US officials, along with 200 US troops, to help with this and with the aid facilitation".

He said that specialised gear was needed to retrieve the bodies and that if fighting resumed, retrieval of bodies would be compromised. 

President Donald Trump also weighed in on the recovery of Israeli bodies on Wednesday. "I almost hate to talk about it," he said. "But they're digging. They're actually digging...and they're finding a lot of bodies. Then they have to separate the bodies." 

The US State Department said in a post on X on Thursday that it has deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team "to help surge and coordinate aid into Gaza".

Israeli settlers threw stones at dozens of Palestinian farmers and volunteers at the olive harvest in the village of Deir Ammar, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Haaretz reported on Thursday.

Four people required medical treatment after the attack. Israeli soldiers, who were present at the scene, did not prevent the attacks.

Avi Dabush, CEO of Rabbis for Human Rights, told Haaretz, "This is only the second day of the harvest and we are already seeing the same pattern of settler violence under military auspices. Farmers who came to work on their land are forced to deal with stone-throwing while soldiers stand by."

Olive harvest traditionally begins in October, and is an endemic part of Palestinian life. Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military detained and deported 32 peace activists helping with the olive harvest. 

The Gaza health ministry reported on Thursday that four people were killed and ten wounded in the past 24 hours in Israeli attacks on the enclave.

The ministry has reported 67,967 dead and 170,179 wounded in more than two years of Israel's war so far.

The Israeli military detained and is deporting dozens of foreign peace activists in the West Bank who were helping Palestinians from the village of Burin near Nablus harvest olives. The activists are accused of "violating" orders by the Israeli army. 

Israeli police said they arrested seven of the 32 detainees who were carrying symbols of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, which was outlawed by Israel in 2021. 

- Haaretz reporting

Yemen's Houthis have confirmed the death of their military leader.

Lieutenant General Mohammed Abdul Karim Al-Ghamari was killed "while fulfilling his duties," the group said in a statement.

Although they didn't specifically reference Israel as the culprit, they mentioned it would "receive its deterrent punishment for the crimes it has committed".

An Israeli military court has approved the detention of Gaza doctor Hussam Abu Safiya by six months.

His family confirmed that the paediatrician, who was kidnapped during a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in December last year, had been ruled to stay in detention despite earlier suggestions he could be returned as a part of a swap for Gaza captives. 

All Gaza captives could have returned home "a long time ago", said one of the captives.

Arbel Yehud, who was held in captivity for nearly 500 days before being freed earlier this year under a previous Gaza truce, told a press conference that the deal brokered by US President Donald Trump could have been struck earlier.

"While we are here, fortunate to embrace our loved ones, there are dozens of families that never will," said Yehud.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza on Thursday said that the dead bodies of 29 Palestinians arrived at hospitals across Gaza over the past 24 hours.

The ministry said that this number includes 22 bodies that were recovered, in addition to four who were killed in direct targeting by the Israeli forces. 

The ministry reported that the number of those killed by Israeli forces since 7 October 2023 has risen to 67,967, while 170,179 others have been wounded. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday handed over approximately 30 bodies of Palestinian prisoners to the authorities in Gaza, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. 

Israeli authorities are to release a total of 1,966 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 serving long or life sentences, and approximately 1,700 individuals who were detained from the Gaza Strip over the past two years.

Earlier, the director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, said that the Palestinian prisoners released by Israel need special medical care for conditions resulting from the torture they have been subjected to, Al Jazeera reported. 

Unrwa said that Israeli authorities continue to prevent it from delivering aid to the Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire agreement.

Dozens of settlers stormed Al-Aqsa mosque under the protection of the Israeli police, Al Jazeera reported, quoting the Islamic Endowments Department. 

The report said that at least 93 settlers stormed the mosque during the morning hours and performed Talmudic rituals and prayers while the Israeli police stationed at the gates prevented worshippers from entering the mosque. 

Hamas has announced it has returned all the deceased Israeli captives it was able to recover, as part of the ongoing ceasefire agreement with Israel.

The statement came as two more bodies were handed over to Israel late on Wednesday via the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In a statement, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said it had fulfilled its commitments under the deal.

“The resistance has adhered to the agreement and handed over all the living captives it held, as well as the bodies it was able to access,” the group said.

It added that recovering the remaining bodies “requires significant effort and specialised equipment”.

“We are making great efforts to close this file,” the statement said.

The handover is part of a ceasefire agreement signed last week between Israel and Hamas, aimed at ending the war on Gaza and exchanging prisoners and remains. 

Read more: Hamas says it returned all recoverable captives as Israel blocks Rafah crossing