Israel, through the Red Cross, received a coffin containing the body of one of the last three hostages still in Gaza from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Israeli military will now transport the body to the Israel National Forensic Center in Tel Aviv for identification.
PIJ and Hamas earlier announced on Monday that the body of an Israeli hostage had been found in central Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it “gravely considers any immediate delay” in handing over the bodies and warned it would be a “further violation” of the six-week-old Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Following the handover in central Gaza on Tuesday afternoon, the office announced that information on the families of the three dead hostages had been updated accordingly.
“Our hearts are with them during this difficult time,” he added. “Efforts to return the hostages are continuing and will not stop until the last hostage is returned.”
Under the first phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that went into effect on October 10, Hamas agreed to repatriate within 72 hours the bodies of 20 living Israeli hostages and 28 dead Israeli and foreign hostages still in Gaza.
On October 13, all living hostages were released, in exchange for the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 Gaza detainees.
So far, the bodies of 22 dead Israeli hostages and 3 foreign hostages have been handed over. Among them, one Thai, one Nepalese, and one Tanzanian were included.
In return, Israel handed over the bodies of 330 Palestinians killed during the war.
Of the three remaining hostages, two are Israelis, Ran Gbili (24) and Dro Or (48), and one is Thai, Sutisak Lintalak (43).
Israel accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the bodies, and claimed that Hamas was struggling to find them in the rubble.
The slow pace means no progress is being made on the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. These include governance of the Gaza Strip, withdrawal of Israeli troops, and Hamas disarmament and reconstruction plans.
The hostages still remaining in Gaza were among the 251 people kidnapped during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed.
Israel has launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 69,770 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
