Israel said Wednesday that it had received the coffin of a hostage who died in captivity from the International Committee of the Red Cross after it was handed over by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The agencies said Hamas is obligated under existing agreements to return the bodies of all hostages who died while being held in Gaza, and called on the group to “uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps” to ensure their repatriation. The family of fallen soldier Ran Gvili, the last remaining Israeli hostage, said they had received indications that the returning captive is not him.
Earlier, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) announced that it had located the body of an Israeli hostage during searches in northern Gaza. Hamas said the remains will be transferred to Israel at 5 p.m. Palestinian reports earlier claimed the body was found in Beit Lahia, not far from the Israeli border.
In its statement, PIJ said “efforts continue to complete the preliminary procedures” for returning the body, according to agreed protocols.”
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister’s Office said that following identification procedures at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, samples delivered Tuesday from Gaza were found not to match any of the fallen hostages. The families of the two remaining fallen hostages — Sgt. First Class Ran Gvili and Sudthisak Rinthalak of Thailand were updated. “The effort to bring them home will not stop until the mission is complete and they can be laid to rest in their countries,” the office said.
Gvili, 24, from Meitar, a member of the Israel Police’s Yamam special unit, was killed in the battle at Kibbutz Alumim. He continued fighting despite a broken shoulder from a motorcycle accident and had been awaiting surgery. He deployed to the Gaza border, nevertheless. Gvili saved the lives of dozens of young festivalgoers at Re’im before being killed, and his body was taken to Gaza. He served for two years in the Negev patrol unit and joined its motorcycle team at a young age. He is survived by his parents, Itzik and Talik, and his siblings Omri and Shira.
Rinthalak, 43, a Thai citizen, was murdered during the October 7 terror attack in the orchards of Kibbutz Be’eri and taken to Gaza. He had worked in agriculture for years and moved to Israel in 2017 to support his family.
First published: 13:02, 12.03.25