DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel returned the bodies of 30 Palestinians to health authorities in Gaza on Friday, completing an exchange after militants turned over remains of two hostages, in a sign that the tense Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is edging forward.

The incremental progress came despite Israeli strikes on Gaza this week that killed more than 100 people following the killing of an Israeli soldier.

The bodies were transferred with the Red Cross serving as intermediary. The return of the Palestinian remains was confirmed by a doctor at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, where medical workers were striving to identify them.

Photos showed the remains, in white body bags, arranged in rows inside the grounds of Nasser Hospital. Health officials have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits.

The handover brings the number of Palestinian bodies returned by Israel to 225, only 75 of which have been identified by families, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It is unclear if those returned were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war, died in Israeli custody as detainees or were recovered from Gaza by troops during the war.

The bodies returned had been “torn apart and exhumed,” Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said in a post on X.

The Israeli military has previously told The Associated Press that all bodies returned so far are those of combatants, a claim the AP was unable to verify. The military has said it operates in accordance with international law.