UPDATE - Hamas hands over remains of another Israeli hostage under Gaza ceasefire deal

UPDATES WITH DETAILS, CHANGES DECK

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) – The Palestinian group Hamas returned on Tuesday the remains of another Israeli hostage under a Gaza ceasefire agreement, the army said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the coffin of a fallen hostage was transferred by Red Cross teams to Israeli forces inside Gaza. It said the body will be delivered to his family once the identification process is finalized.

With the new handover, Hamas has completed the release of 20 living hostages and the remains of 28 others under the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, which took effect on Oct. 10.

Israel, however, insists that there are still two bodies in Gaza, claiming that one of the transferred bodies did not belong to any of its captives, and another set of remains was not new but belonged to a captive whose body had been previously recovered.

Phase one of the ceasefire deal includes the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.

Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed nearly 70,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and injured more than 170,900 people in a two-year war that has left much of the enclave in ruins.