(Reuters) -Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said it will hand over the body of a deceased hostage on Friday evening as part of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Under the October ceasefire deal Hamas turned over all 20 living hostages held in Gaza in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held in Israel.
Hamas also promised to hand over the remains of 28 deceased hostages in return for remains of 360 militants. So far, 22 hostage bodies have been returned in exchange for 285 bodies of Palestinians.
The group said the body was found in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis and would be handed over at 2100 local time (1700 GMT).
Hamas-led militants seized 251 hostages in the October 7, 2023 attack that precipitated the Gaza war, and killed another 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s retaliatory offensive killed nearly 69,000 Palestinians, health officials in Gaza say – 241 of them killed since the ceasefire took hold.
(Reporting by Yomna Ehab and Enas AlashrayEditing by Alexandra Hudson and Philippa Fletcher)
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