Israel says remains Hamas handed over on Tuesday are not those of a Gaza hostage

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JERUSALEM, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Israeli forensic services concluded that remains handed over by Hamas on Tuesday were not those of the last two hostages in Gaza, the office of Israel’s prime minister said.

Under the terms of the October ceasefire deal, Hamas had handed over remains described by the Red Cross as those of one of the last two deceased hostages still in Gaza.

Israeli forces said they sent for forensic testing the remains they described as “findings”.

“The findings brought yesterday for examination from the Gaza Strip are not linked to any of the deceased hostages,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The identification had been made at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, it added.

The two remaining deceased hostages are Israeli police officer Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, both kidnapped during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that touched off two years of devastating war in Gaza.

The Geneva-based Red Cross has acted as an intermediary between Gaza militant groups and Israel throughout the war triggered by Hamas’ attack, helping to pave the way for the release of living hostages and the handover of remains.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Clarence Fernandez)