Israel identifies bodies of two hostages returned by Hamas
The Israeli military said the bodies of two hostages returned by Hamas on Tuesday were identified as Aryeh Zalmanovich and Staff Sergeant Tamir Adar.
Mr Zalmanovich, who was 85 at the time of his death, was abducted from his home on kibbutz Nir Oz on November 17, 2023, and killed in captivity, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
Mr Adar, who was 38 when he died, was a member of Nir Oz’s social security team and was killed fighting Hamas gunmen during the October 7 attack.
The return of the bodies means Hamas has transferred 15 of the 28 Israeli hostages who died as part of the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire agreement earlier this month.
The coffins were delivered to the troops in Palestinian territory by the Red Cross, which had previously received them from Hamas.
The IDF said the coffins, escorted by the military, crossed into Israel and would be taken to Tel Aviv for official identification.
Hamas had handed over the body of a Palestinian in previous hostage transfers; He said this was coincidental due to difficulties in locating the bodies.
Shortly after the agreement was reached, all 20 surviving hostages were released.
Before the latest remains were identified, the IDF stressed that “Hamas must maintain the agreement and take the necessary steps to bring back all deceased hostages.”
Hamas’s failure to return all the dead hostages has sparked anger in Israel.
The Palestinian group says it tried to do this, but had difficulty finding bodies under the rubble of buildings bombed by the Israeli Armed Forces in Gaza.
Under the ceasefire and hostage release agreement, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees in Gaza and returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians in exchange for the remains of Israeli hostages.
The first phase of the agreement also saw an increase in aid to Gaza, a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and a cessation of hostilities; But deadly violence flared over the weekend as both sides accused each other of violating terms of the agreement.
The IDF launched a military operation in Gaza in response to an October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel in which Hamas-led gunmen killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
Since then, more than 68,000 people have been killed in Israeli offensives in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
