JERUSALEM, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The remains of three bodies handed over Friday night to Israel by Hamas have been identified as not belonging to any Israeli hostages, local media reported on Saturday.

"We ruled out that the remains returned on Friday evening are related to Israeli hostages," Israeli news website Ynet quoted an Israeli official as saying, following examinations at the National Center for Forensic Medicine.

The official noted that this did not constitute a violation of the agreement by Hamas, explaining, "We initially had already assessed that these remains were unlikely to belong to hostages. Still, we prefer that Hamas send any findings for verification."

The website noted that according to the agreement reached between Israel, the mediators and Hamas, in cases of ambiguity, all the remains they obtain will be submitted for examination, as happened in this case.

Of the 28 bodies that Hamas is obliged to hand over to Israel, 11 still remain in Gaza.