TEL AVIV — The body of a second Israeli hostage was retrieved from a structure near the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the Israeli military said early Friday.

A statement said the body of 19-year-old Noa Marciano – a corporal in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – had been transferred to Israeli territory.

The IDF recovered her body days after a Hamas video emerged claiming Marciano had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

On Thursday, the IDF said it had recovered the body of Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old Israeli woman found near Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital. A military spokesperson said Weiss was killed by Hamas without giving details on the cause of death. He said her family had been informed, and her body would be returned to Israel.

Weiss was a resident of kibbutz Be’eri, and was taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7. Her husband, Shmuel, was among those killed.

It is not known if the bodies of the two women were found together. The precise circumstances of their deaths are not known.

Ms Weiss had been recovering from breast cancer, but was without her medication when she was taken, according to the Bring Them Home Now group.

Ms Weiss worked in her kibbutz's kindergartens, managed the dining room and specialized in nursing before she retired, the group said.

She was a "loving full-time grandmother", it said, adding she had a love for culture, sports, traveling and baking.

So far only four of the 240 hostages who were abducted by Hamas last month have been freed.

Israeli officials say that at least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October by hundreds of gunmen.

Since Israel started its counter-attack, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has said 11,400 people have been killed in the territory.

Al-Shifa, Gaza City's largest hospital, became the focus of fighting at the start of the week, and was raided by the Israeli military on Wednesday morning.

The IDF says Hamas has been using the hospital as a command centre, and has spent two days searching the complex for evidence of this. Hamas denies operating there and the BBC cannot independently verify claims by either side.

Currently more than 650 patients, 500 medical staff and over 5,000 displaced people are taking shelter in the hospital.

Its director Muhammad Abu Salmiya said conditions were "tragic" at the site, and the hospital has run out of oxygen and water. — Agencies