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Hamas to provide Israel with sample from body found under Gaza rubble

Iran Press TV

Wednesday, 03 December 2025 2:27 PM

Hamas says it will provide Israel with a new sample taken from human remains uncovered in northern Gaza, after Tel Aviv claimed that earlier remains transferred by the resistance group did not belong to the last two dead captives whose bodies have yet to be returned.

A Hamas official said on Wednesday that fighters from the resistance group's armed wing, working alongside members of Islamic Jihad, discovered "remains that are possibly those of an Israeli captive" beneath the rubble in the Beit Lahia area.

The sample, he said, would be transferred via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for Israeli examination.

Earlier on Wednesday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that forensic tests showed the remains retrieved from Gaza a day before were "not linked" to the last two dead captives held in the Palestinian territory.

Israeli police had earlier announced they had received the remains of one of the final captives and transported the body to the forensic center.

Under the first phase of the ceasefire arrangement that took effect in October, the Palestinian resistance group was required to return all 48 captives, including 20 who were still alive.

All but the bodies of two captives- Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak -have since been handed over.

Israel has accused Hamas of "delaying" the return of remains.

Hamas rejects the accusation, saying its search efforts have been severely obstructed by the vast destruction caused by Israel's two-year genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip, where entire neighborhoods have been leveled, and basic civil infrastructure has collapsed.

In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held illegally in its jails and has returned the bodies of hundreds of deceased Palestinians.

The US-backed ceasefire agreement was supposed to put an end to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and kick-start aid deliveries to Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, where famine had been declared.

But two months into the deal, rights groups and ceasefire monitors say the regime's genocide in Gaza has not stopped. They report more than 500 violations of the ceasefire, with at least 356 Palestinians killed during this period, pushing Gaza's overall death toll to more than 70,000.

Analysts say the ceasefire plan drafted by US President Donald Trump gave the international community an excuse to shift attention away from Israel's war crimes in Gaza, giving Western governments political cover while conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate.