Hamas has handed over to the Red Cross a coffin containing what it says is the body of another deceased hostage, the Israeli military has said.
The remains will be transferred to Israeli forces, who will take them to the National Centre of Foreign Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification.
Under the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel, which started nearly a month ago, Hamas agreed to return all 20 living and 28 dead Israeli and foreign hostages it was holding within 72 hours.
Israel has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of the dead hostages’ bodies, while Hamas has insisted it is struggling to find them under rubble.
If the latest remains are confirmed as those of a dead hostage, it will mean six others are still in Gaza – including Israelis and foreign nationals.
All the remaining living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
Israel has also handed over the bodies of 300 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the Israeli hostages and those of two foreign hostages – one of them Thai and the other Nepalese.
On Tuesday, the remains of Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen, 19, were returned.
Staff Sgt Chen was serving as a soldier in the IDF’s 7th Brigade when Hamas-led gunmen attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
The IDF said he was killed inside a tank during a battle in Kibbutz Nir Oz and that his body was taken to Gaza as a hostage by Hamas.
The slow progress over the return of the hostages has meant there has been no advance on the second phase of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan. This includes plans for the governance of Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the disarmament of Hamas, and reconstruction.
Israel has allowed members of the Palestinian armed group and Red Cross staff to search for remains in areas still controlled by Israeli forces.
All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among the 251 people abducted during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,800 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
