Ammon News - Israel has identified the latest body returned from Gaza by Hamas and Islamic Jihad as Israeli-Argentinian hostage Lior Rudaeff, the Israeli army said Saturday.

"Following the completion of the identification process by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine... IDF (military) representatives informed the family of Lior Rudaeff that he had been returned for burial," the military said in a statement.

Rudaeff, 61, was killed in Nir Yitzhak kibbutz while trying to protect his community with four other residents on October 7, 2023 during the Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, and his body was taken to the Palestinian territory that day.

Under the October ceasefire deal Hamas turned over all 20 living hostages still held in Gaza since the group's 2023 attack on Israel, in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held in Israel.

The ceasefire agreement also included the return of remains of 28 deceased hostages in exchange for remains of 360 militants.

Including Rudaeff, 23 hostage bodies have been returned in exchange for 285 bodies of Palestinians, though not all have been identified, according to Gaza's health authorities.