Red Cross passed coffin from Hamas to Israeli military, with the remains to go through a formal identification process
The Red Cross had handed over the body of another hostage from Gaza to the IDF, Israel said early on Saturday, amid a dispute over delays in the return of remains under the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.
The Israeli military and security forces received the coffin from the Red Cross inside the Gaza Strip, and it was to be sent to the Ministry of Health’s National Center for Forensic Medicine in Israel. Israeli authorities said the family of the deceased would be notified first after a formal identification process.
The handover came after Hamas’ military wing, known as the Qassam Brigades, said the remains were that of an “occupation prisoner”, suggesting that they belonged to an Israeli rather than one of the hostages of several other nationalities also taken in Gaza.
This was the 10th deceased hostage Israel has received out of 28 bodies held in Gaza. Hamas, citing technical problems, has said it needed heavy machinery and excavating equipment to speed up the process of locating bodies buried under rubble.
