It had been searching for Master Sgt Ran Gvili since the ceasefire with Hamas began in October.
Hamas was meant to return all hostages, alive and dead, within 72 hours of the ceasefire taking effect. Twenty living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 27 dead Israeli and foreign hostages were handed over but for the past few weeks Hamas said it had not yet been able to locate Gvili.
On Sunday, Israel said it would reopen Gaza’s key border crossing with Egypt once the operation to find and return Gvili was complete.
The retrieval of Gvili’s body clears the way for Israel and Hamas to advance to the second phase of Donald Trump’s peace plan.
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