Missing bodies of hostages top the list of uncertainties as fragile Gaza ceasefire holds

By SAM MEDNICK and GIOVANNA DELL ORTO Associated Press TEL AVIV Israel AP The tenuous ceasefire in the two-year Israel-Hamas war was holding Tuesday even as complex issues remained ahead a day after widespread jubilation over the return to Israel of the last living hostages held in Gaza and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange The list of more immediate questions includes those on when Hamas will return to Israel the bodies of the hostages supposed to be dead in Gaza as well as the physical condition conditions of the distributed hostages and freed Palestinians A worker cleans the ground at the plaza known as hostages square in Tel Aviv Israel Tuesday Oct AP Photo Francisco Seco Only four of the deceased hostages whose release is also part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal brokered by U S President Donald Trump were turned over to Israeli personnel on Monday On Tuesday the Israeli military identified two of them Guy Illouz from Israel and Bipin Joshi a attendee from Nepal The two men were both in their s when Hamas took them during the Oct attack on that ignited the war Illouz from the Nova music festival and Joshi from a bomb shelter Israel declared Illouz died of his wounds while being held captive without proper health medicine while Joshi was murdered in captivity in the first months of the war adding that the National Center of Forensic Medicine would later provide the final cause of death The freed Israeli hostages were in therapeutic care on Tuesday and certain families commented it would be weeks before the men could go home In the West Bank and Gaza where hundreds of prisoners were distributed several were also taken to hospitals Separately the Israeli military mentioned troops in the northern Gaza Strip had opened fire to remove the threat of several people approaching them on Tuesday across the yellow line and not complying with orders to stop It didn t right away comment on any casualties in the affair Part of the ceasefire agreement is that Israel would pull back in Gaza to the so-called yellow line where its forces were in August before launching their latest offensive on the Gaza City in the strip s north Related Articles The present day in History October Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier Trump says time to drop old feuds Tears of delight as living hostages are returned Madagascar s president flees after soldiers turned against him opposition lawmaker says Venezuela says US navy raided a tuna boat in the Caribbean as tensions rise Longer-term issues also hang in the balance including whether Hamas will disarm who will govern and help rebuild Gaza and the overarching question of Palestinian statehood which is central for Palestinians and numerous countries in the region The first policies to peace are invariably the hardest Trump had declared as he stood with foreign leaders in Egypt on Monday for a summit on Gaza s future He hailed the ceasefire deal he brokered between Israel and Hamas as the end of the war in Gaza and start of rebuilding the devastated territory On Tuesday the U N growth agency announced the latest joint estimate from the U N the European Union and the World Bank is that billion will be required to rebuild Gaza Jaco Cillers special representative of UNDP administrator for a plan to help Palestinians declared billion would be needed in the next three years and the rest would be needed over a longer period possibly decades In Egypt Trump urged regional leaders to put old feuds aside as world leaders met to discuss the challenges ahead in securing a lasting peace Representatives from Israel or Hamas were not at the summit Dell Orto released from Jerusalem Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this record