Israel's defense minister said Wednesday that troops have recovered the bodies of one hostage from Gaza and is verifying another possible body.

Israel’s defense minister said Wednesday that troops have recovered the bodies of two additional hostages from Gaza.

Israel believes a third of the remaining hostages are dead, while a number have been previously freed through negotiated deals. However, Yosef and Hamzah Al Zaydani were believed to still be alive and their bodies’ return could ramp up the pressure on Israel to move ahead on a deal.

The deal would secure release of a third of the approximately 100 hostages who remain in Gaza, including two dual U.S.-Israeli nationals. In return, Israel would release some Palestinian prisoners.

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.

Gaza's civil defence agency said a series of Israeli air strikes killed at least 14 people on Wednesday, in the latest violence to ravage the already devastated Palestinian territory.

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,