Hamas hands over Israeli soldier’s remains
Transfer made under truce with Red Cross mediation
Hamas transferred what appeared to be human remains to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City after its armed wing said it had located the body of an Israeli soldier who had been held hostage. The group said the remains were found in Shejaia, an eastern Gaza City suburb still occupied by Israeli forces, after Israel allowed access for teams from Hamas and the ICRC, and that the handover occurred under the terms of the existing ceasefire framework. The ICRC moved the remains to Israeli authorities, who confirmed receipt of a coffin and said it would be taken to the national forensic institute for DNA testing and formal identification; the family of the presumed deceased will be notified once identification is complete, and, if confirmed, the body will be honoured with a military ceremony.
Hamas said the recovery took place during excavation efforts in Gaza’s Tuffah neighbourhood, where bombed-out buildings and tunnels have complicated access to hostages and the deceased. The transfer represents progress in the hostage-and-mortality component of the ceasefire deal, but Israeli officials stressed many remains remain unreturned and urged Hamas to fully comply with the agreement.
The handover follows a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that took effect on October 10, under which Hamas earlier turned over all 20 living hostages it had held in Gaza in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held by Israel. Hamas had also pledged to return the remains of deceased hostages but said locating bodies has been hampered by the war’s devastation; Israel has accused Hamas of stalling. Before this recent transfer, Hamas had returned 20 of the 28 bodies of hostages that had been buried in Gaza, while Israel had handed over 270 Palestinian bodies killed since the war began in October 2023, Gaza health authorities reported.
The ceasefire has broadly held despite repeated incidents of violence. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli strikes since the truce killed 239 people, nearly half of them in a single day when Israel retaliated for an attack on its troops. Israeli officials welcomed the latest transfer as partial compliance with the ceasefire obligations but emphasized the unresolved status of numerous missing hostages and the continued humanitarian, diplomatic and forensic challenges ahead.
