Israel says remains Hamas handed over on Tuesday are not those of a Gaza hostage
World
Hamas had handed over remains described by the Red Cross as those of one of the last two deceased hostages still in Gaza, in line with commitments made under a US-backed October ceasefire deal
JERUSALEM (Reuters/AFP) – Israeli forensic services concluded that remains handed over by Hamas on Tuesday were not those of the last two hostages in Gaza, the office of Israel's prime minister said.
Hamas had handed over remains described by the Red Cross as those of one of the last two deceased hostages still in Gaza, in line with commitments made under a US-backed October ceasefire deal.
Israeli forces said they sent for forensic testing the remains they described as "findings".
"The findings brought yesterday for examination from the Gaza Strip are not linked to any of the deceased hostages," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Wednesday.
The identification had been made at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, it added.
The Al Quds Brigades – the armed wing of the Hamas-allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement – said later on Wednesday it was searching for a body of a hostage in northern Gaza, along with a team from the Red Cross.
It did not say which of the two remaining deceased hostages it was searching for.
The two are Israeli police officer Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, both kidnapped during Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that touched off two years of devastating war in Gaza.
Gvili helped people escape from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023 and was killed fighting at another location. The military confirmed his death four months later. He is survived by his parents and a sister.
Sudthisak Rinthalak was an agricultural worker from Thailand who had been employed at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities in the attack. According to media reports, Sudthisak had been working in Israel since 2017.
Twenty living hostages and the remains of 26 others have been returned to Israel since the ceasefire began in early October. The returns are a key part of the terms of a shaky agreement which both Hamas and Israel have accused the other of breaking.
The remains handed over Tuesday were found in Gaza’s northern town of Beit Lahiya, according to Palestinian media.
The Geneva-based Red Cross has acted as an intermediary between Gaza militant groups and Israel throughout the war triggered by Hamas' attack, helping to pave the way for the release of living hostages and the handover of remains.
RAFAH CROSSING WILL OPEN SOON
The Rafah crossing will open in the next few days to let Gaza residents cross into Egypt, COGAT, the Israeli military's arm that oversees aid flows, said on Wednesday.
The arrangement, which has security clearance from Israel, will be coordinated with Egypt under the supervision of the European Union mission, similar to the mechanism that operated in January 2025, COGAT said.
