Gaza ceasefire holds as bodies of hostages add to uncertainty

Israel said Illouz died of his wounds while being held captive without proper medical treatment, 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 medical care on Tuesday, and some families said it would be weeks before the men could go home. In the West Bank and Gaza, where hundreds of prisoners were released, several were also taken to hospitals.

Separately, the Israeli military said 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 immediately comment on any casualties in the incident.

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.

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 many countries in the region.

“The first steps to peace are always the hardest,” Trump had said 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. development agency said the latest joint estimate from the U.N., the European Union and the World Bank is that $70 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza. Jaco Cillers, special representative of UNDP administrator for a program to help Palestinians, said $20 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.