A week after the body of slain hostage Dror Or was returned from Gaza, Israel on Tuesday received materials transferred from the Gaza Strip via the Red Cross, though authorities say it remains unclear whether they belong to a fallen hostage. Two fallen hostages are still held in Gaza: Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said the materials were handed over to IDF and Shin Bet personnel inside Gaza, where they were received in a military ceremony with a military rabbi. The items will be transferred to the National Center of Forensic Medicine for examination. Once identification procedures are complete, officials will deliver a formal notice to the family, the statement said.
The hostages and missing persons unit said it remains in continuous contact with the families of the two fallen hostages. The public was urged to respect the families’ privacy and avoid sharing unverified information.
On Monday, a security official said Israel had prepared to receive a body at 5 p.m. after it was located during searches in Gaza, though it was still unknown whether it belonged to a hostage. The planned transfer was later canceled.
Earlier Tuesday, Hamas-affiliated Palestinian media reported that Islamic Jihad and Hamas had renewed searches for a hostage’s body in the Beit Lahiya area of northern Gaza.
As preparations continue for the second phase of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said mediation efforts toward a Gaza agreement are ongoing and that reported violations of the ceasefire are “concerning.”
“We continue to monitor the agreement and work to prevent the collapse of the current ceasefire,” he said. “We have confidence in the U.S. president’s plan, in his role, and in the role of the mediators.”
Al-Ansari said no date has been set for the start of the second phase. “Any violation of the cease-fire in Gaza threatens it and weakens its impact on the ground, but this is the longest truce since the start of the war,” he said. “We are working to ensure the current ceasefire leads to the second phase of the agreement. There remains one hostage’s body yet to be transferred to Israel. What has been achieved so far is significant.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, speaking at a news conference in Berlin, said Cairo aims to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza without restriction and strengthen the ceasefire. He said Egypt hopes to begin the second phase of Trump’s reconstruction plan, including establishing an international peace council and stabilization force.
“The only guarantee for regional stability is resolving the Palestinian issue and establishing an independent Palestinian state,” he said.
Gvili, 24, from Meitar, served in the Israel Police’s Yasam Negev unit. He was killed in the fighting at Kibbutz Alumim after arriving in the area despite recovering from a shoulder fracture. He is credited with saving dozens of young people at the Re’im music festival before he was killed and his body taken to Gaza. He is survived by his parents and two siblings.
Rinthalak, 43, a Thai agricultural worker, was killed on Oct. 7 in fields near Kibbutz Be’eri and taken to Gaza. He had worked in Israel since 2017 to support his family.
First published: 13:45, 12.02.25