Bodies of three newly-recovered hostages to be handed over on Sunday night, says Hamas

Hamas has said it will hand over the bodies of three newly-recovered hostages to Israel on Sunday night.

It comes after Israeli sources said remains of three other people repatriated on Saturday did not match any of the missing hostages.

Sunday’s handover is scheduled to take place at 8pm (6pm UK time).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week ordered airstrikes on Gaza after it released remains of a hostage who had already been recovered nearly two years ago.

All 20 living hostages were freed under the Gaza ceasefire deal, which began on 10 October.

The remains of 28 dead Israelis were meant to be immediately handed over but Hamas has blamed the ruinous state of Gaza and a lack of equipment for problems locating them all.

Egypt and the Red Cross have been using diggers to help search the rubble.

Seventeen sets of remains have been handed over so far, but the bodies of 11 more hostages are thought to still be in Gaza, including those of two foreign nationals.

On Thursday, Israel said the remains of two hostages returned by Hamas had been confirmed as Sahar Baruch and Amiram Cooper, both taken during the 7 October terror attack.

Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners when the truce began, and has also handed over more than 200 bodies so far.

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