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 officials now say the early assessment suggests they do not belong to a fallen hostage. The identification process remains ongoing at the National Center of Forensic Medicine.
Two fallen hostages are still held in Gaza: Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak. Earlier Tuesday, before Israel announced it had received the materials, a Hamas official told Reuters the group intended to transfer one of the two bodies, though the items delivered may not be connected to either of them.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said the materials were handed to Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet personnel inside Gaza in a military ceremony attended by a military rabbi. They were then transferred to the forensic institute in Abu Kabir for identification. Once the process is complete, officials will issue a formal notice to the family.
The hostages and missing persons unit said it remains in continuous contact with the families of the two fallen hostages and urged the public to respect their privacy and avoid sharing unverified information.
The Health Ministry later confirmed the materials had reached the forensic center, where medical examiners and laboratory teams are working to determine their origin and clarify the circumstances of death “as quickly as possible and with maximum sensitivity.”
On Monday, a security official said Israel had prepared to receive a body at 5 p.m. after one was located during searches in Gaza, though it was unclear whether it belonged to a hostage. The transfer was later canceled.
Earlier Tuesday, Hamas-affiliated 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 violations of the cease-fire are “concerning.”
“We continue to monitor the agreement and work to prevent the collapse of the current cease-fire,” he said. He added that the current truce is the longest since the start of the war and that one hostage’s body has yet to be returned to Israel.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, speaking at a news conference in Berlin, said Cairo aims to expand humanitarian aid to Gaza without restriction and reinforce the cease-fire. He said Egypt hopes to begin the second phase of Trump’s reconstruction plan, including establishing an international peace council and stabilization force.
Gvili, 24, from Meitar, served in the Israel Police’s Yasam Negev unit. He was killed in the fighting at Kibbutz Alumim and 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.