The Brigades said in a post on Telegram: “ The Qassam Brigades found the body of one of the occupation’s prisoners today during ongoing search operations, and will hand it over today if the field conditions are suitable.”
She warned that "any Zionist escalation will hinder search and excavation operations and the recovery of bodies, which will delay the occupation's recovery of the bodies of its dead."
This comes a day after Israeli authorities announced on Sunday that they had identified the bodies of two prisoners they had received from Hamas on Saturday evening, as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement that the army and the Shin Bet security service received the bodies of the two prisoners from the Red Cross inside the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of bodies received by Israel to 13.
The statement explained that the National Center for Forensic Medicine identified the body of Ronen Engel, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, who was killed on October 7, 2023, noting that his family was officially notified of the return of his remains.
The Israeli occupation army also announced that the second body belonged to Thai citizen Sontaya Okkarsari (30 years old), who the occupation army claimed was killed by Hamas members in Kibbutz Be'eri on the same day. His body was later transferred to Gaza, before his death was officially announced on May 16, 2024.
Since the implementation of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement began on October 10, Hamas has released 20 live Israeli prisoners and the bodies of 13 out of a total of 28, most of whom are Israeli.
The movement said it seeks to "close the file" and requires time, advanced equipment, and heavy machinery to retrieve the remaining bodies. Meanwhile, Israel says the remaining number is 16, claiming that one of the bodies received does not match any of its prisoners.
In return, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, in addition to 1,718 prisoners it had arrested in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, and approximately 135 Palestinian bodies.
More than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, remain languishing in Israeli prisons, suffering torture, starvation, and medical neglect. Many of these prisoners have been killed, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.
On October 9, a ceasefire agreement was reached in Gaza, ending a two-year genocidal war waged by Israel, with American support, that resulted in the deaths of 68,116 Palestinians, the injury of 170,200 others, and the destruction of 90 percent of the Strip's infrastructure.
