The Israeli army announced on Friday evening that the Red Cross has received the body of a hostage, stating that “the coffin of one of the deceased hostages will be transferred into its custody.”
اضافة اعلان
The statement urged the public to exercise sensitivity and wait for the official confirmation of the identity of the body, which will first be communicated to the family.
The army stressed that Hamas must adhere to the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all deceased hostages.
Earlier on Friday, Hamas announced that it would hand over the body of a hostage to Israel later that night, after previously committing to deliver all hostage remains and comply with the ceasefire agreement.
Under the ceasefire deal—brokered primarily by U.S. President Donald Trump—Hamas has returned 20 hostages alive and the remains of nine of the 28 hostages who died, along with another body that Israel said did not belong to a former hostage.
In return, Israel released around 2,000 Palestinian detainees from its prisons and halted the military operation in Gaza that began following Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023.
