Body of Israeli captive en route to Israeli military in Gaza

The Israeli military says the Red Cross has received the body of a deceased captive and is on the way to return it.

“According to information provided by the Red Cross, a coffin of a deceased hostage has been transferred into its custody and is on the way to [Israeli] troops in Gaza,” the army said in a post on X.

Hamas has now returned the remains of 16 of the 28 deceased captives – along with 20 living ones – since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 10.

Israel is still awaiting the return of 12 more bodies before moving to phase two of the US-brokered truce agreement. The recovery and handover of bodies of captives’ remains has been one of the obstacles to President Trump’s Gaza peace plan.


_{Workers from Egypt search for the bodies of israeli captives at Hamad City, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip on Monday}


Israel army chief: War on Gaza to continue until dead captives returned

Israel’s top military officer says the Gaza conflict will persist until the remains of all captives are received.

Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir told commanders the military’s objectives remain incomplete while bodies of fallen captives remain in Gaza, The Times of Israel reported.

“The war is not yet over. We must complete our sacred mission,” Zamir said.

His comments underscored the fragility of the US-brokered truce with Hamas and came during a gathering of the army’s senior leadership.



How do you find anything in that...

Gaza humanitarian crisis remains dire despite ceasefire: Red Crescent

Gaza’s population faces the same desperate humanitarian emergency as before the ceasefire began, the head of the Palestine Red Crescent Society has warned.

Younis al-Khatib said that residents are experiencing deep psychological harm and will need mental health care for years to come. “Rebuilding human beings is more difficult than rebuilding destroyed homes,” he said from Norway.

Grete Herlofson, the head of the Norwegian Red Cross, called Gaza’s circumstances “critical and desperate”, pointing to Israel’s repeated violations of international humanitarian law.

Both organisations said that discussions about reconstructing Gaza cannot begin until there is a lasting ceasefire and aid can move freely into the territory without Israeli restrictions.

The Palestine Red Crescent said that only 21 of its 58 ambulances remain operational because of fuel shortages.

US lawmaker highlights constituent who lost 48 relatives in Gaza war

Democratic Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman has urged the administration of US President Donald Trump to uphold its commitment to enforce the Gaza ceasefire after reporting that one of her constituents lost 48 family members in Israel’s assault.

“Despite the ‘ceasefire,’ innocent Palestinians continue to be killed,” Watson Coleman wrote on social media.

Sami Shaban, a school board member in New Jersey, has had 48 relatives killed in Israeli attacks during the two-year war, she said.

Most recently, his cousin Sufyan, his wife, and three children were killed on October 17 when Israeli tank fire struck their minibus, according to NorthJersey.com. The attack occurred a week after the ceasefire took effect.

Ex-officer says US watered down report on Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/world/middleeast/shooting-palestinian-american-journalist.html

A former United States colonel who worked on a team that compiled a report on the Israeli military’s killing of Al Jazeera journalist and US citizen Shireen Abu Akleh has accused the administration of former US President Joe Biden of softening its findings in favour of Israel.

The statements from Colonel Steve Gabavics in an interview with the New York Times represent the first time a military official involved in the report has spoken publicly.

The officer recounted being “flabbergasted” by a State Department statement that described Abu Akleh’s May 11, 2022, killing as “the result of tragic circumstances”.

At the time Abu Akleh was fatally shot in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Gabavics had been working at the inter-agency Office of the United States Security Coordinator, which oversees cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces.

Writers boycott New York Times opinion section over Gaza coverage

A coalition of more than 300 prominent figures – half of them previous contributors to the newspaper – is refusing to write for The New York Times’s opinion section until its demands on Palestine reporting are met.

The group of writers wants the NYT to examine bias against Palestinians in its journalism, withdraw the contested article “Screams Without Words“, and use its editorial influence to advocate for halting US weapons supplies to Israel.

High-profile names backing the campaign include novelists Sally Rooney, Isabella Hammad, Susan Abulhawa and Viet Thanh Nguyen.

“There is nothing appetizing or enlivening about the prospect of sitting across from the likes of Bret Stephens, Thomas Friedman, or David Leonhardt, politely debating the definition of genocide,” their statement said.

Check the full list of people participating here.

Main events on October 27th

• The Israeli military said Hamas handed over the body of another deceased captive as the army chief vowed the war on Gaza will go on until the remains of all abductees are received.
• Gaza’s Health Ministry announced it’s opening a new office to work on identifying the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians returned by Israel under the ceasefire with Hamas, with many unrecognizable from decomposition and mistreatment.
• Two years of war on Gaza has more than doubled the number of people in Gaza who need mental health care, rising from about 485,000 to more than one million, the World Health Organization said.
• Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have surged with 757 incidents recorded in the first half of 2025, 13 percent more than the same period last year, according to the UN Human Rights Office.
• The United Nations and France condemned an Israeli attack near UN peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon after international soldiers neutralised an “aggressive” Israeli reconnaissance drone.

Calls for BA’s boycott grow after it cancels sponsorship for Bob Vylan interview

British Airways’ decision to cancel the sponsorship for Louis Theroux’s podcast following his decision to interview Bob Vylan artist Pascal Simon-Foster has backfired spectacularly. Prominent names on social media are now calling for the Uk airline’s inclusion to the BDS list. Rifat Jawaid argues that the decision smacks of the brazen double standard as the airline showed no such haste in cancelling Theroux when he interviewed more controversial figures in the past.

British Commentator And Israel Critic Arrested By ICE

Israel’s military kills 3 Palestinian fighters near Jenin

Israeli forces have killed three Palestinian fighters during a raid on the village of Kafr Qud near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, according to our colleagues on the ground.

The Israeli military then carried out an air strike in the area, according to our colleagues.

Jenin, known as a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank, is a frequent target of Israeli raids.


_{People inspect the site where Israeli forces killed three Palestinian fighters near Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on October 28}

The Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs has released the identities of the three men killed by Israeli forces earlier in the village of Kafr Qud near Jenin. It named them as:

• Abdullah Muhammad Omar Jalamna, 27
• Qais Ibrahim Muhammad Beitawi, 21
• Ahmed Azmi Arif Nashrati, 29

The Israeli military seized the bodies of the men, whom it says were part of a local fighting cell, according to Wafa.

Israeli settlers vandalise irrigation system, farmland in Jordan Valley: Report

A group of Israeli settlers has vandalised an irrigation system used for farmland in the northern Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

The settlers also destroyed a nearby corn crop, according to the agency, which noted that such attacks have increasingly pushed Palestinian families out of the area.

Israeli settlers attack and injure two Palestinian olive farmers

Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian olive farmers near the town of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, injuring two of them, reports the Wafa news agency.

The men, aged 45 and 49, have been hospitalised, said the agency.

According to the Ramallah-based Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Israeli forces and settlers have carried out 259 attacks on Palestinian olive farmers since the beginning of this year’s harvest season.

_{Israeli settlers stand next to vehicles as they attempt to stop foreign activists and Palestinians from picking olives during harvest season in the village of Turmus Aya near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 28}

Israeli forces arrest 6 Palestinians in West Bank raids

Israeli forces have arrested six Palestinians in dawn raids on refugee camps and villages in the occupied West Bank, Wafa is reporting. The arrests came after Israeli forces entered and ransacked people’s homes, according to Wafa.

Three people were arrested in the Jalazone refugee camp north of Ramallah, one in Balata refugee camp near Nablus, and one in the Askar camp, along with one person west of Nablus.

Early-morning raids were also reported in the villages of Shabtin and Deir Abu Mishal, both west of Ramallah, and Jifna, to the north – although no arrests were reported.

Israeli forces demolish two Palestinian homes near Ramallah: Report

Israeli forces have bulldozed two homes in the Palestinian village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. During the demolition, the forces fired tear gas at people congregated at the scene, including journalists, according to Wafa.

Yesterday, Israeli forces demolished two more Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank – one near Qalqilya and one near Nablus.

Israel hands out dozens of demolition orders in West Bank village

Israeli forces have raided the Palestinian village of Um al Kher in the occupied West Bank and issued dozens of demolition orders for residential homes.

According to village council head Khalil Hathaleen, the notices sparked fears that many residents will be forcibly displaced from the village, located in the Masafer Yatta area of Hebron governorate.

Um al Kher has been a frequent target of Israeli demolitions, which have destroyed more than 100 structures since 2007, said Hathaleen.

Israeli forces destroy more residential buildings across Gaza

Israeli forces are targeting residential buildings in central and southern Gaza despite the ceasefire. Our correspondents on the ground said Israeli forces have bombed and destroyed civilian homes in eastern Gaza City and the Bureij refugee camp.

Meanwhile in southern Gaza, Palestinian media sources reported that Israeli forces destroyed buildings in the Morag Corridor, an Israeli-established “security corridor” that cuts off Rafah from the rest of the Gaza Strip.

Sound of Israeli drones and explosions trigger ‘deep trauma’ in Gaza despite ceasefire

Even with the ceasefire technically in place, the sound of drones in the skies above makes Gaza feels anything but calm.

Israeli drones hover at a dangerously low level, particularly when it comes to the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, which is technically under Israeli control. It’s just a constant reminder of how fragile this ceasefire is.

Throughout the night, there were also the sounds of explosions – small but persistent. And if the ceasefire sounds like this, people ask the question: Will it hold if we keep hearing the sounds of explosions, heavy artillery on and off, and the sounds of drones?

People here tell us that the fear has not left them at all, that the mechanical hum of drones is deeply rooted in their daily life because, after two years of bombardment, these sound like a warning for them.

Parents are reporting children waking up in the middle of the night and mistaking the hum of the drones for an air raid, and adults tell us how they flinch at any noise – whether doors slamming or a truck backfiring.

So that’s the by-product of two years of relentless bombardment that has left people with this deep trauma.

Palestinian couple care for 36 orphaned grandchildren in Gaza

Israel’s war on Gaza has left at least 17,000 children orphaned, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics. For one couple, that tragedy has meant taking in 36 grandchildren who have lost their parents.

“These children need care. They need food, water and special attention,” grandmother Rida Aliwa told Al Jazeera. “I wake up at 3am every day to bathe and feed them. I do all this despite my old age.”

Grandfather Hamed Aliwa said protecting the dozens of children is even more difficult as war threatens to resume and basic goods are lacking. “We live under the constant sound of drones that keep us awake all night, and we are scared that the war could start again,” he said.

_{Children play on the rubble of destroyed homes at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City}

Israel still maintaining a ‘famine policy’ in Gaza

Sami Al-Arian, a professor at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, says the international community has failed to hold Israel to account for ignoring its obligations under the ceasefire, including to facilitate the entry of more aid into Gaza.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Al-Arian pointed out that the amount of aid entering Gaza since the ceasefire started has fallen well short of the promised 600 trucks a day.

“All of the conditions of the ceasefire have been violated,” Al-Arian said.

“Where is the aid that [Palestinians] were promised? Where is the safety they were promised – the shelter, the medical aid? None of that is coming in.”

“Famine is still a policy that Israel has been upholding,” he said.


GMO accuses Israel of committing 125 violations of ceasefire deal

Gaza’s Government Media Office has accused Israel of committing 125 violations of the ceasefire agreement since it came into effect on October 10. The office said in a statement that Israeli attacks in violation of the agreement had killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 344 others.

More than 70,000 people with hepatitis C in Gaza need urgent treatment outside Strip: Doctor

The spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital has told Al Jazeera Arabic that more than 70,000 people in Gaza are infected with hepatitis C and require urgent treatment outside the Strip.

“We demand the immediate opening of the crossings to limit the spread of epidemic diseases in Gaza,” Khalil al-Daqran said.

Palestinians struggle to identify loved ones buried in Gaza City mass grave

We are at an area [near al-Shifa Hospital] where 72 bodies are being dug out of the ground. These bodies were buried here almost a year ago after Israeli forces withdrew from the area around al-Shifa Hospital.

We’ve seen family members arriving here – including mourning mothers and collapsing fathers – searching for the remains of their loved ones.

But out of the 72 bodies, only five have been identified by their families. Every other body has been given a number and will be taken to al-Shifa Hospital to hopefully be properly identified.

Still, thousands of victims remain missing, not just in this area.

Body handed over by Hamas not one of the remaining captives: Report

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority is reporting that the remains handed over by Hamas do not belong to any of the 13 captives still held in Gaza.

It said that the identification process of the body returned last night to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Tel Aviv has been completed and suggests the remains belong to a body already brought for burial in Israel.

Latest issue with captives’ remains prompting ‘a lot of anger in Israel’

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority says the remains that were handed over to Israel overnight were not those of a new Israeli captive. In fact, there are suspicions that they belong to an Israeli captive whose [partial remains] have already been handed over and buried by the family.

The identity has not been revealed but we already know that the Israeli prime minister will hold emergency security consultations to respond to the developments as per this report.

Now let’s just remind ourselves of why this is so complicated and why we are talking about the gruesome details of remains of remains.

The recovery of these bodies is an extremely gruesome and gruelling task – there are tonnes and tonnes of piles of rubble in Gaza. The groups that were holding these Israeli captives may also have been killed in Israeli bombardment along with the captives, so information is difficult to ascertain.

The areas where these captives were held are often unrecognisable, so it takes a long time to recover them. So this development is one of many that were probably foreseen by the mediators, given the difficulties.

But it’s prompted a lot of anger in Israel, and we expect it will ignite discussions in the right-wing Israeli government about possible ways to exact retribution against Hamas.

Israel’s Ben-Gvir says Hamas ‘playing games’, Israel must ‘destroy it completely’

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has reacted to reports casting doubt on the identity of the most recent remains handed over by Hamas, saying the group “continues to play games” and must be vanquished.

“We no longer need to ‘exact a price from Hamas’ for the violations,” Ben-Gvir said in a post on X. “We need to exact from it its very existence and destroy it completely.”

“Mr Prime Minister, enough hesitation – give the order!” he urged.

As we’ve reported, Israeli media said a casket Hamas transferred to Israeli authorities via the Red Cross on Monday night does not appear to contain the remains of any of the 13 remaining captives in Gaza. Instead, it is suspected to hold additional remains from a captive whose body was already returned.

How are they playing games? Hamas can't do DNA tests on the ground, Egyptian experts are working with Hamas now.

Netanyahu etc knew full well how impossible a task it would be to find the remains among / under the bombed out buildings, captives killed with those guarding them, no central command to keep track. 

Whether Trump knew this or not, Netanyahu made sure that the 'peace' plan can never advance past phase 1 / the return of the living captives.


Netanyahu to consider actions after issue with Hamas captive transfer

Israel’s Arutz Sheva media reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a meeting later today to weigh possible responses to what the government considers ceasefire violations by Hamas, amid reports that the most recent remains handed to Israel do not match any of the 13 remaining captives.

It is unclear what time the meeting will take place or what responses are on the table.

Israel itself has been accused of repeatedly breaching the ceasefire conditions, including by carrying out deadly attacks in Gaza and not allowing enough aid into the enclave.

Lemme guess, keeping Rafah closed, restrict aid further. This 'peace' plan is never going to advance past the yellow line, 53% of Gaza permanently occupied while Israel keeps demolishing/erasing Gaza further.