Hamas returns two bodies to Israel, believed to be slain captives

Hamas announces the first handover of Israeli captives’ remains in over a week, amid growing pressure to uphold the ceasefire deal.

By World Israel News Staff

The Hamas terror organization handed over two coffins it claims carried the remains of two hostages.

The Israel Defense Forces received the coffins, believed to contain remains of slain Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, from a Red Cross team inside Gaza on Thursday evening, the Prime Minister’s Office said.

After being handed over to IDF troops inside the Strip, the bodies were transferred to Israeli territory, where they were received in a military ceremony with the participation of the IDF chief rabbi, per the PMO.

The remains were set to be transferred to the Health Ministry’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv for identification.

A spokesman for the group announced Thursday afternoon that it would return the remains of two slain Israeli captives to Israel at 4 p.m.

In a brief message released by Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Islamist group gave no details regarding the identities of the two captives or when their remains were located.

Israel confirmed receipt of the coffins shortly after 5 p.m.

The handover marks the first time in more than a week that Hamas has returned the bodies of slain captives to Israel.

Hamas said earlier that it had planned to return two bodies on Tuesday night, but ultimately canceled the transfer, citing Israeli reprisal strikes after Hamas terrorists killed a reservist IDF soldier in southern Gaza.

While Hamas was obligated under the terms of the ceasefire agreement to return all 48 hostages, living and dead, by October 13, the bodies of 13 slain hostages remain in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier this week, Hamas handed over human remains which it claimed belonged to one of the 13 captives still held in Gaza.

However, Israeli forensics teams later identified the remains as belonging to Ofir Tzarfati, a 27-year-old man murdered at the Nova music festival massacre.

Most of Tzarfati’s body was recovered by the IDF in December 2023.

Israel condemned Hamas for presenting Tzarfati’s remains as belonging to one of the 13 remaining hostages, noting that Hamas had pulled the man’s remains out of a building, placed them in a hole dug by Hamas operatives in Gaza City, then retrieved the remains again in front of International Committee of the Red Cross workers.

The Red Cross issued a rare rebuke of Hamas over the incident.