Israel Confirms Remains Transferred by Hamas Do Not Belong to Hostages
Three sets of partial remains transferred from Gaza to Israel late Friday were determined not to belong to any of the hostages still held in the Strip, Israeli forensic officials said following examinations at the Abu Kabir Institute in Tel Aviv.
The transfer was facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which confirmed it had acted as a neutral intermediary at the request of both parties. The remains were collected from the Gaza Strip and brought to Israel for analysis, officials said Saturday.
Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for handing over the remains, saying it had located several unidentified bodies. In a statement, the group said it had initially offered to send only samples but that Israel “refused to receive the samples and requested to receive the bodies for examination.” The group said the handover was meant “to counter the enemy’s claims.”
Israeli authorities made no public comment on the transfer but have repeatedly accused Hamas of deliberately delaying the return of hostages’ bodies, asserting that the group knows where most of them are buried.
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Hamas also declared that its recovery teams were prepared to continue searching for bodies “inside the Yellow Line,” referring to areas under Israel Defense Forces control, and called on the Red Cross and mediators to provide the tools and staff needed to carry out simultaneous retrievals.
According to Israeli data, the bodies of eleven hostages remain in Gaza, including Meny Godard, Ran Gvili, Dror Or, Itay Chen, Asaf Hamami, Oz Daniel, Hadar Goldin, Sudthisak Rinthalak, Lior Rudaeff, Omer Neutra, and Joshua Mollel.
Earlier this week, Hamas had returned the partial remains of Ofir Tzarfati, whose body the IDF had already recovered nearly two years earlier. Drone footage released at the time appeared to show the group staging the discovery before handing the remains to the Red Cross—a move Tzarfati’s family described as another act of manipulation.
The ICRC said Friday that it would continue assisting in the transfer of remains and humanitarian operations as requested by both sides.
