Israel has identified the hostage body returned by Hamas on Thursday as that of Meny Godard, who was 73 when he was killed in the 7 October attacks.
Red Cross vehicles collected his body hours after Hamas issued a joint statement with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad saying it had been located in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister's office stated forensic testing confirmed the body belonged to Godard, who was killed alongside his wife, Ayelet, during Hamas's raid on kibbutz Be'eri on 7 October 2023.
Hamas has now returned all 20 living hostages and 25 out of 28 deceased hostages, under the first phase of the ceasefire deal - part of a US plan to end the Gaza war.
All the living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.
For each dead Israeli hostage returned, Israel has agreed to hand over the remains of 15 Palestinians. However, with no DNA testing available in Gaza, the identification process remains challenging.
Hamas seized 251 hostages during its initial attack on 7 October, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people.
The conflict has led to over 69,000 Palestinian casualties according to the Hamas-run health ministry, figures that the UN finds credible.
As of now, there are still three bodies awaiting recovery in Gaza, including two Israeli and one Thai. Israel has accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery process, while Hamas claims difficulties in locating the bodies among the rubble.
Due to the slow progress, there has been no advancement regarding the second phase of US President Trump's Gaza peace plan, which aims for governance changes in Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, disarmament of Hamas, and reconstruction initiatives.
