Israel: Fourth body handed by Hamas is not a hostage, likely 'unknown Palestinian'

Israel has said that one of the four bodies handed over by Hamas on Monday as part of the Gaza peace deal does not belong to a Palestinian. Though it did not provide additional details about the body’s identity or the circumstances of its transfer, Israeli media claimed the remains probably belonged to an unknown Gazan.

The bodies were handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross on Tuesday night in Gaza City. They were then transferred to the Israeli military.

However, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas had likely sent the wrong remains on Tuesday by mistake, adding that officials hoped another hostage release round would occur later that day.

Hamas has not released the names of the hostages whose bodies were returned this week, unlike in previous transfers. This, however, is not the first time that Hamas has released the wrong remains. In February of this year, Hamas returned remains of what it claimed was Shiri Bibas, but it did not match any of the hostages.

Meanwhile, the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine in Israel confirmed that the remains of the other three were those of hostages Tamir Nimrodi, Uriel Baruch, and Eitan Levy. Nimrodi, a soldier, was abducted alive from his base and is believed to have been killed early in the war. It is not clear what caused his death.

Tamir was kidnapped alive and killed by IDF bombings while in captivity while Uriel Baruch, who was initially kidnapped from the Nova music festival.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office warned that Hamas “is required to fulfill its commitments to the mediators and to return [the remaining bodies] as part of the agreement’s implementation.”

“We will not compromise on this and will spare no effort until we bring back all of the fallen hostages, every single one of them,” a statement from his office said.

 

Middle East