Israel received the remains of another hostage from Gaza on Friday, the prime minister's office said, a handover from Hamas as the militant group worked to shore up a ceasefire by using bulldozers in a search for bodies under the rubble in the war-scarred enclave,
CBC News reports.
The Israeli military and security forces received the coffin from the International Committee of 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's military wing, 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.
The handover of hostages' remains, called for under the ceasefire agreement, has been among the key sticking points — along with aid deliveries, the opening of border crossings into Gaza and hopes for reconstruction — in a process backed by much of the international community to help end two years of devastating war in Gaza.
