Hamas on Sunday handed over the remains of an Israeli officer killed during the 2014 war in Gaza, under the terms of the ceasefire in the strip.
Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military arm, said it had found the body of Lt Hadar Goldin in a tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza, on Saturday. He was 23 when he died.
Hamas handed over the body to the Red Cross, which is acting as a go-between. Israel's National Institute of Forensic Medicine later confirmed the identity of the remains, the military said.
Lt Goldin was killed by Palestinian militants in an ambush in Rafah in southern Gaza in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. About 2,250 Palestinians were killed in that conflict, which lasted seven week
The soldier is the 24th dead hostage whose remains Hamas has returned since the start of the current ceasefire on October 10 - leaving four still to hand over.
Hamas has turned over all 20 living hostages held in Gaza in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails as part of last month's ceasefire deal.
The truce also stipulates the return of the remains of 28 deceased hostages in exchange for the bodies of 360 Palestinians.
So far, 23 captives' bodies and 300 Palestinians have been exchanged, though not all the Palestinians have been identified, Gaza's health authorities say.
Israeli media reported on Saturday that Israel had allowed Hamas and Red Cross personnel to search in an area under Israeli control in Rafah to find Lt Goldin's remains.
Several outlets said Hamas recovered the remains in a tunnel under territory held by Israeli forces.
Oron Shaul, another Israeli soldier whose body was recently returned after being found in January, was also killed in the six-week war in 2014.
Trapped fighters
Hamas's armed wing also said on Sunday its fighters holed up in the Israeli-held Rafah area would not surrender to Israel, urging mediators to find a solution to secure their escape.
"Let the enemy know that the principle of surrender and submission to the enemy does not exist in Al Qassam Brigades' dictionary," Hamas said.
The group also urged the mediators to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire, and prevent Israel "from using flimsy pretexts to violate it and exploit it to target innocent civilians".
Negotiators from Egypt, Qatar and the US are engaged in talks with Israel over what will happen to the trapped Hamas fighters, sources told The National last week.
The number of fighters behind the “yellow line” that marks Israeli-held territory in Gaza is unknown. Israeli troops withdrew to behind the frontier as part of a US-brokered ceasefire that paused the war on October 10. The sources said the number was likely to be in the low hundreds.
The mediators are proposing the fighters are given safe passage to areas under Hamas control, according to the sources. Red Cross representatives would ferry them there in their vehicles.
The proposal includes the fighters leaving behind heavy weapons and taking only firearms for self-defence, the sources added.
They also said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was under pressure from extremist members of his government to prevent the fighters from leaving, with some politicians blaming them for deadly attacks on Israeli soldiers last month.
The sources said there are fears that the fighters, many of whom have not been in contact with their commanders for months, could stage attacks on Israeli soldiers, jeopardising the fragile ceasefire and derailing the US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza.
