Gaza: The Palestinian group Hamas returned the remains of another Israeli hostage on Thursday evening under a Gaza ceasefire agreement, Israeli authorities confirmed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated that its forces inside Gaza had received the body from Red Cross teams. The body is set to be transferred to Israel, where it will be received in a military ceremony.
According to Anadolu Agency, an Israeli military statement earlier indicated that the hostage’s body was transferred to army forces by the Red Cross teams in southern Gaza. Hamas announced earlier on Thursday that it would hand over the body in the Morag area, north of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Hamas has previously released 20 Israeli captives alive and handed over the remains of 27 out of 28 hostages, most of them Israelis, since the ceasefire took effect on October 10. However, Israel claimed that one of the received bodies did not match any of its listed captives.
The first phase of the ceasefire deal involves the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The agreement also includes plans for the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas. Israel has caused the deaths of more than 69,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 170,700 others in attacks on Gaza since October 2023.