Israel is seeking, through mediators, to locate the remains of spy Eli Cohen, an Israeli soldier who was reported missing after disappearing in Syria in 1982, a Palestinian official said, preferring to remain anonymous.

The Palestinian official confirmed on Monday that "we were contacted through mediators in order to help find the remains of a third Israeli soldier who went missing in 1982."

The official, who is currently residing in Damascus, added, "There are other contacts to find out the location of the remains of the well-known Israeli agent, Eli Cohen," according to what was reported by "Agence France-Presse."

Another Palestinian official, who also preferred to remain anonymous, said that the mediation is taking place through Russia and with Palestinian officials outside Syria.

Israel has been trying for many years to find out the location of the remains of the spy Eli Cohen, who was hanged in Damascus in 1965 after he succeeded in infiltrating Syria's elite society in the early 1960s.

In the summer of 2018, the Hebrew state announced that it had recovered Cohen's watch, which was part of his "false Arab identity," thanks to a "special operation carried out by the Mossad in an enemy state."

At the time, information circulated about negotiations being conducted by Israel with Russia, an ally of the Syrian regime, in order to recover other personal belongings of Cohen, and even his remains.

In 2019, Israel released two Syrian prisoners, after recovering via Russia the remains of Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel, who had been missing since 1982 in Lebanon.

Baumel was lost in a battle between Israeli and Syrian forces near the Lebanese village of Sultan Yacoub, close to the border with Syria, in June 1982, after the Israeli army invaded Lebanon.