Bodies of unidentified Palestinians returned from Israel as part of the ceasefire deal are buried in a mass grave in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

By The Canadian Press

Israel says Hamas hands over additional remains believed to be of a hostage

Nov 5, 2025 | 3:46 AM

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hamas has handed over remains believed to be of a deceased hostage to the Red Cross in Gaza, the latest step forward under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

The military said in a statement that the remains were being brought back into Israel. Ahead of the announcement, Hamas had returned the remains of 21 hostages to Israel under the terms of the ceasefire that began Oct. 10. If the latest remains are confirmed during forensic testing, that would leave the remains of six others in Gaza.

The announcement came after search operations in Gaza City’s Shijaiya neighborhood uncovered the remains. A bulldozer with an Egyptian flag flying on it was seen digging in a heavily destroyed area in Shijaiyah as masked members of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, guarded the area. ICRC vehicles were also present.

Hamas militants were seen later leaving the area with several bags seen in the back of a pickup truck. In late October, Egypt deployed a team of experts and heavy equipment to help search for hostages’ bodies.

Hamas has said recovering bodies is complicated by the widespread devastation in the coastal enclave and has returned one to three bodies every few days. Israel has pushed to speed up the returns and in certain cases has said the remains were not those of hostages.

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Earlier in the day, Israel handed over the bodies of 15 more Palestinians, a day after militants in Gaza returned the body of Itay Chen, an Israeli soldier killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered Israel’s 2-year-old campaign in Gaza. So far, Israel has handed over 285 bodies, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which handles the exchanges.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas returned 20 living hostages to Israel on Oct. 13. The further exchanges of the dead are the central component of the initial phase of the U.S.-brokered agreement which requires Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. The exchanges have gone ahead even as Israel and Hamas have accused each other of breaching other terms of the deal.

Israeli officials have decried parts of the process as a violation of the agreement, accusing Hamas of handing over partial remains in some instances and staging the discovery of bodies in others.

Hamas has accused Israel of opening fire at civilians and restricting the flow of humanitarian aid into the territory. The number of casualties has dropped since the ceasefire took effect, but officials in Gaza have continued to report deaths from strikes, while Israel has said that soldiers have also been killed in militant attacks.

Health officials in Gaza have said identifying the remains handed over by Israel is complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits. Israel has not disclosed how many bodies it is holding or where they were recovered, but has been returning 15 each time the remains of an Israeli hostage are returned from Gaza.

The ceasefire deal will not move to subsequent phases until all the remains of Israeli hostages are returned.

The next parts of the 20-point plan call for creating an international stabilization force. Its makeup hasn’t been finalized, but diplomats are working to define its role, persuade Arab countries to take part, and win wider international support.

“What we believe is that whatever entity that is created in Gaza should have the legitimacy of a mandate from the Security Council,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters in Doha on Tuesday.

The fragile agreement aims to wind down the war that was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

Israel responded with a sweeping military offensive that has killed more than 68,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.

Israel, which has denied accusations by a U.N. commission of inquiry and others of committing genocide in Gaza, has disputed the ministry’s figures without providing a contradicting toll.

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Metz reported from Rabat, Morocco.

Wafaa Shurafa And Sam Metz, The Associated Press