A police-escorted convoy transported the remains of a hostage to Tel Aviv's forensic institute on Tuesday night, as officers lined up and saluted.

Israel’s military said that the remains of a hostage in Gaza have been turned over to Israel, in the latest sign of progress under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

Ahead of the announcement, Hamas had returned the remains of 20 hostages to Israel under the ceasefire that began October 10.

If the latest remains are confirmed during forensic testing, that would leave the remains of seven others in Gaza.

The ceasefire is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.

The military wing of Hamas said earlier Tuesday it had recovered the body of an Israeli soldier in Gaza and intended to hand over the remains.

Israel's statement did not indicate whether the remains were of a soldier.

Militants in Gaza have released one to three bodies every few days.

Israel has pushed to speed up the returns and in certain cases has said the remains were not those of hostages.

Hamas has said the work of recovering the bodies is complicated by widespread devastation.

For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians.

So far the bodies of 270 Palestinians have been handed over under the current ceasefire.

Fewer than half have been identified. Forensic work is complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits in Gaza.

AP video shot by: Ami Bentov