The Prime Minister's Office and the IDF announced that Israel has received, via the Red Cross, the coffin of a fallen hostage, which was handed over to an IDF and ISA force inside the Gaza Strip. From there, it will be transferred to Israel, where it will be received in a military ceremony with the participation of an IDF Rabbi.
It will then be transferred to the Health Ministry National Center of Forensic Medicine. Upon completion of the identification process, formal notification will be delivered to the family.
The families of the fallen hostages have been updated.
Earlier, the military arms of the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations announced on Tuesday that at 4:00 p.m. they would return the body of a hostage to Israel.
The organizations noted in an official statement that the body was found in the central Gaza Strip. The transfer will be conducted in coordination with the Red Cross.
At 4 pm, the IDF announced that Red Cross vehicles were on their way to receive the hostage's body.
"According to information received, the Red Cross is on its way to the meeting point in the central Gaza Strip, where a coffin of a deceased hostage will be transferred into its custody," the military stated.
"The IDF requests that the public act with sensitivity and wait for the official identification, which will first be provided to the families. Hamas is required to uphold the agreement and take the necessary steps to return all the deceased hostages."
Later, the IDF announced that "according to information provided by the Red Cross, a coffin of a deceased hostage has been transferred into its custody and is on the way to IDF troops in the Gaza Strip."
Earlier in the day, the Prime Ministers Office issued a harsh response to the Islamic Jihad announcement regarding the location of findings related to a deceased hostage. The statement made clear that "Israel views with severity the delay in their immediate transfer into its hands. This constitutes a further violation of the agreement. Israel demands the immediate return of the three deceased hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip."
The terror organizations are still holding the bodies of three slain hostages, two Israelis and one Thai national: Dror Or, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.
Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, an officer in the Negev Yasam unit, was abducted after being killed in battle at Kibbutz Alumim on October 7. Gvili, 24 at the time of his death, left the hospital to help under fire and was wounded. Shortly afterward, contact with him was lost. On January 31, 2024, it was announced that he had fallen in battle and was classified as a deceased hostage.
Dror Or, a chef from Be’eri, was abducted from his home together with his three children, Alma and Noam, and his nephew Liam. His wife, Yonat, was murdered. His children were released in hostage deals. On May 2, Kibbutz Be’eri reported that he had been murdered on the day of the attack and that his body is being held by Hamas. He was 48.
Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai agricultural worker, was kidnapped while working in the orchards in Be’eri. He was murdered on October 7, and his body is being held by Hamas. Rintlak came to Israel in 2017 to support his family in Thailand.