JERUSALEM, September 11, 2008 (AFP) - Police said on Thursday they found a suitcase thought to contain the remains of a French girl allegedly killed by her Israeli grandfather and dumped in a river near Tel Aviv in a grisly case that shocked Israel.

'There are very strong chances it is the body of Rose,' regional police Commissioner Nissim Morocco told public radio after two divers retrieved a suitcase that fitted the description given by the girl's grandfather, who lived with Roses's mother -- his former daughter-in-law -- at the time of his arrest.

Experts will now conduct forensic tests on the contents of the suitcase, Morocco said.

Taxi driver Ronie Ron had initially told police he had beaten four-year-old Rose to death and put the body in a red suitcase which he hurled in the Yarkon river. He later retracted his confession.

Search teams had combed the river and surrounding areas for weeeks before Thursday's breakthrough.

Ron, 45, lived near Tel Aviv with Marie-Charlotte Renaud, 23, a French woman previously married to his son Benjamin, who is Rose's father.

On Tuesday, a Tel Aviv court remanded Ron and his former daughter-in-law in custody for 10 days.

Benjamin divorced Renaud about three years ago after he found out she was having an affair with his father. Today Ron and Renaud have two children of their own.

Described by police as 'one of the most shocking in the country's history,' the case has dominated headlines for weeks.

Police suspect that the murder occurred in May, but the girl's disappearance was only brought to their attention last month when her great-grandmother contacted welfare authorities.