Israel says Hamas returned body of Israeli-US soldier held hostage
Israel has confirmed that the body of the last hostage returned by Hamas through the Red Cross belongs to Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen.
The 19-year-old’s body was handed over on Tuesday as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump last month.
“After the identification process is completed… [Israel Defense Forces] The Israeli prime minister’s office said its representatives notified the family of the deceased hostage, Staff Sergeant Itay Chen, that their loved one had been extradited to Israel and had been positively identified.
Previously, Hamas’s military wing announced that it had found the body of an Israeli soldier in the eastern Shecaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.
Israel had allowed members of the Palestinian armed group and Red Cross personnel to search for the remains in territory still under the control of Israeli forces.
Staff Sergeant Chen was serving as a soldier in the IDF’s 7th Brigade when Hamas-led gunmen attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The IDF said he was killed in a tank during fighting at Kibbutz Nir Oz and his body was taken to Gaza as a hostage by Hamas.
“The remains of Itay Chen, a young American who was taken hostage by Hamas when he was just 19 years old, have finally returned home. We honor his life, mourn his loss, and stand with his family,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote to X.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel welcomed his return but also stressed that there were still seven hostages dead in Gaza.
“Please do not stop until they all return home. Until the last hostage,” it said.
The Israeli government accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the recovery of dead hostages since the ceasefire agreement came into force on October 10.
Hamas insisted it was difficult to find the bodies under the rubble.
Slow progress means no progress has been made on the second phase of President Trump’s Gaza peace plan, which includes the management of Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the disarmament of Hamas and reconstruction plans.
The US is now reportedly drafting a UN Security Council resolution that would give a two-year mandate for the interim governing body in Gaza, known as the Peace Board, and the International Stabilization Force (ISF).
The text states that the ISF will be tasked with working with Israel and Egypt to secure border areas, “ensure the process of demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,” protect civilians, and train a new Palestinian police force.
It also states that the ISF will have the authority to “take all necessary measures to fulfill its mandate.”
It is understood that the draft has not yet been officially sent to other Security Council members for negotiations.
According to the ceasefire agreement, Hamas agreed to return 20 living and 28 dead hostages within 72 hours.
All living Israeli hostages were released on October 13 in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 Gazan detainees.
Israel handed over the bodies of 270 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of 18 Israeli hostages and two foreign hostages, one Thai and the other Nepali, who were returned by Hamas before Tuesday. The bodies of 15 more Palestinians are expected to be returned to Gaza in exchange for Sergeant Chen.
Of the seven hostages currently in Gaza, five are Israeli, one is Tanzanian and one is Thai.
All but one of the dead hostages still in Gaza were among 251 people kidnapped during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza in which more than 68,800 people were killed, according to the region’s Hamas-run health ministry.
On Tuesday, a hospital official in Gaza City said a man was killed by Israeli fire in the Jabalia district in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army said its soldiers killed a “terrorist” who crossed the “Yellow Line” separating Israeli-controlled territory and posed a threat to them.
