GAZA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said on Monday it had found the body of an Israeli hostage in eastern Gaza and was preparing to hand it over.
A senior Al-Qassam source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the body was discovered during searches for hostages' remains in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City. The group is coordinating with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to arrange the handover, the source added.
Israel has accused Hamas of delaying the return of the hostages' remains. Meanwhile, Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas in Gaza, said efforts to locate other bodies had been hindered because "Israel has changed the landscape of Gaza during the war."
"Some of those who buried the bodies were killed or no longer remember the burial sites," he said.
Al-Hayya said Palestinian factions and Al-Qassam members were continuing searches "day and night," and that a joint operations room in Cairo, involving mediators and an Israeli team, was monitoring developments.
Since a ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, Hamas has released 20 Israeli hostages alive and handed over 15 bodies, while Israel has freed 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza, and returned the remains of 195 Palestinians to their families, according to official Palestinian sources. ■
