Israel says Hamas returned body parts of hostage previously retrieved

Jerusalem, Oct 28 Israel said on Tuesday that the remains handed over by Hamas on Monday night were in fact body parts belonging to a hostage whose body had already been recovered by the Israeli army around two years ago.

In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel regarded the handover as "a clear violation" of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, adding that a security meeting would be convened later on Tuesday with senior defence officials to discuss Israel's response.

The remains were transferred by Hamas via the Red Cross in Gaza overnight and later taken to Tel Aviv for forensic identification.

Netanyahu's office said that following the identification process, "it was determined that the remains returned last night belong to the fallen hostage Ofir Tzarfati."

Tzarfati, 27, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas-led assault on October 7, 2023. His body was recovered by Israel in a military operation in December 2023, Xinhua news agency reported.

Hamas handed the coffin to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza, which then transferred it to the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security agency inside the enclave.

The coffin was taken to the National Centre of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.

A Hamas source had said the body was recovered earlier in the day from the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.

It was the latest exchange of captives and bodies under a ceasefire deal. Hamas had previously returned 15 of the 28 hostage bodies that Israel demanded to be returned.

Under the deal, Hamas has released all 20 living Israeli hostages, while Israel has freed about 2,000 Palestinian detainees.

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