Body released by Hamas 'was not that of hostage'

THE Israeli military said that one of the bodies handed over by Hamas the previous day as part of the ceasefire deal is not that of a hostage who was held in Gaza, adding to tensions over the fragile truce in the two-year war.

- MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY

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Gaza's health ministry said it received 45 additional bodies of Palestinians from Israel.

The bodies of 90 Palestinians have now been transferred. It was unclear whether the deceased had died in Israeli custody or were taken from Gaza by Israeli troops.

Four bodies of hostages from Gaza were handed over by Hamas on Tuesday to ease pressure on the ceasefire, following an earlier four on Monday, hours after the last 20 living hostages were released.

In all, Israel has been awaiting the return of the bodies of 28 deceased hostages.

Israel, which released around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Monday, is also handing over bodies of Palestinians under the deal, a step awaited by many families in Gaza whose relatives went missing during the war.

The military said that after the “examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the fourth body handed over to Israel by Hamas does not match any of the hostages.”

There was no immediate word on whose body it was.