The Israeli military said Wednesday that its troops recovered the body of a hostage in Gaza and brought it back to Israel following a "complex and difficult operation".Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said in an online briefing that troops carried out what he described as a "complex and difficult special operation" to retrieve the body.

Relatives of hostages are pressuring Israel's government to reach a ceasefire with Hamas. Hamas has reportedly agreed on a list of 34 names of hostages still held in Gaza-- the people who would be freed should the ceasefire deal with the Israeli government currently under discussion in Qatar go ahead.

The Israeli army says it has recovered another body of a hostage in the Gaza Strip. An Arab Israeli, aged 53, has been brought out, according to a military spokesman. Finds connected to his son, who had also been kidnapped,

Gaza Israel and Hamas are inching closer to a deal to pause their 15-month war in Gaza and enact a hostages-for-prisoners swap, sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The National on Wednesday.