BREAKINGBREAKING, NewsIsrael says Red Cross receives remains of deceased Gaza captive

Israel says Palestinian armed groups have handed over a set of human remains believed to belong to an Israeli captive to the Red Cross, which will transfer them to the Israeli millitary.

“According to information provided by the Red Cross, a coffin of a deceased hostage has been transferred into its custody and is on the way to IDF (Israeli) troops in the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear if the remains belonged to one of the three deceased captives in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The handover of the remains is part of a US-brokered plan to end Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza, where a tenuous ceasefire continues to hold despite continuing Israeli attacks across the territory.

Palestinian armed groups have returned 25 bodies of captives. In return, Israel has released the bodies of 330 Palestinians back to authorities in Gaza.

Hamas says it has not been able to reach all of the remains because they are buried under rubble from Israel’s two-year genocidal war in the Palestinian territory.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Tuesday that the delay amounted to a ceasefire violation.

“Israel demands the immediate return of the three deceased hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip,” it added.

However since the ceasefire began, Israel has violated the United States-brokered truce at least 497 times, killing hundreds of Palestinians since the ceasefire came into effect, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

Advertisement Some 342 civilians have been killed in the attacks, with  children , women and the elderly accounting for the majority of the victims.

Israel continues to heavily restrict the supplies of food, water, fuel and medical supplies into the devastated enclave as was mandated in the ceasefire agreement.

Based on reporting by Al Jazeera.