Red Cross personnel in Gaza received from terrorists a coffin containing what was said to be the body of a deceased hostage from Israel, the IDF said on Tuesday afternoon.
The handover took place at an agreed-upon "meeting point," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement. The Red Cross is expected to hand over the body to Israeli authorities without delay. The IDF "requests that the public act with sensitivity and wait for the official identification, which will first be provided to the families," the statement said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations said that they would be returning the remains of a slain hostage at 4 p.m. The previous handover happened on Nov. 13. Hamas transferred remains of Manny Godard on that day.
The announcement that another body would be transferred on Tuesday came minutes after the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said it viewed with "great severity" any delay in releasing the body.
"In light of Palestinian Islamic Jihad's announcement that it has located the remains of a deceased hostage, Israel views with great severity the delay in immediately transferring them to its custody," the PMO said.
"This is an additional violation of the agreement. Israel demands the immediate return of the three deceased hostages who are still being held in the Gaza Strip," added the statement.
Islamic Jihad first claimed on Monday that it had found the remains of a hostage.
"Today, we found the body of one of the enemy prisoners during search operations in areas controlled by the Zionist [Israeli] army in the central Gaza Strip," the Al-Quds Brigades said in a statement, according to AFP.
The bodies of three murdered hostages remain in Gaza: Israel Police counter-terrorism officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Dror Or, and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.
This JNS.org report was republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate.
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