Jerusalem, Nov 17 (IANS): The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have recovered the body of a woman hostage who was reportedly kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.

The IDF announced that it has found the body of Yehudit Weiss "who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the mayhem and massacre of October 7".

The Israeli Army said that the IDF's 603 Combat Engineering Battalion recovered the body of Yehudit Weiss who hails from southern Kibbutz of Be'eri from near a structure that is adjacent to the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

The IDF said that a huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the site where the body was found.

The body has been transferred to the Israeli territory, it said, adding that an identification process was conducted by the military, medical and rabbinate (religious) personnel along with the Institute of Forensic Medicine.

The IDF and Israeli police personnel have informed the family about her death. She was battling cancer when she was abducted by Hamas.

The IDF in the statement said that the national task was to locate the missing and return the abducted persons home.

The IDF said that it was operating alongside and in full coordination with the relevant national and security institutions to pursue these tasks and added that it would not cease from the mission until it is completed.