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Body of hostage transferred to Israel for identification; Israeli and Thai families await results

Red Cross personnel delivered the remains to an IDF and Shin Bet team inside the Gaza Strip, where the coffin was received.

By World Israel News Staff

One of the last two hostage bodies remaining in the Gaza Strip has been recovered and transferred to Israeli authorities on Wednesday evening, Israeli officials confirmed.

Earlier Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group claimed that it had located the remains during searches in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya, an area on the Hamas-controlled side of the ceasefire line.

Islamic Jihad said the body was being prepared for transfer to Israel, “based on agreed-upon protocols.”

In a separate statement, Hamas’ military wing said the hostage body would be handed over to Israel via the International Committee of the Red Cross at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday.

“As part of the Al Aqsa Flood prisoner exchange deal, the Al-Quds Brigades and the al-Qassam Brigades will hand over the body of an Israeli prisoner found today in the northern Gaza Strip, at 5 PM Gaza time,” the al-Qassam Brigades said.

Israeli authorities later confirmed that the body was indeed transferred. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Red Cross personnel delivered the remains to an IDF and Shin Bet team inside the Gaza Strip, where the coffin was received in a formal military setting with an IDF rabbi present before being brought into Israel.

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While all of the remaining living hostages were returned to Israel last month, 2 of the 28 slain hostages held at the time of the signing of the ceasefire deal remained in Gaza.

The two remaining hostages are 24-year-old Ran Gvili, a police officer from the elite Yamam unit, and Sudthisak Rinthalak, 43, a Thai agricultural worker.

A day earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Israel had received samples from Hamas via the International Committee of the Red Cross.

However, on Wednesday morning, the PMO said examinations by teams at the National Center of Forensic Medicine had “determined that the findings brought yesterday for examination from the Gaza Strip are not linked to any of the fallen hostages.”

Following the transfer of the body on Wednesday afternoon, the remains were taken to the National Center of Forensic Medicine for identification.

The PMO said an official notification will be provided to the family once the process is complete and stressed that the national effort to return all hostages “will not cease until the last hostage is brought home.” It also urged the public to respect the families’ privacy and avoid spreading unverified information.

Identification procedures are underway, and further details will be released once confirmed.