Israel receives body believed to belong to slain hostage

Israel received a body said to belong to a deceased hostage on Wednesday evening, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem said.

The body, transferred to Israeli authorities by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was received by a delegation that included an Israel Defense Forces rabbi and will be taken to the National Forensic Institute near Tel Aviv for identification, the statement said.

Officials "are in constant contact with the families of the fallen victims. The effort to retrieve our hostages is ongoing and will not end until the last one is returned," the statement added.

On Wednesday afternoon, the ICRC said it had received the coffin of a deceased hostage and would transfer it to IDF troops in the Gaza Strip, the military said in a statement.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group earlier claimed to have "found" the body of a hostage in Gaza, while Hamas said it was preparing to transfer the remains to the ICRC.

"We found the body of one of the enemy’s captives during search and excavation operations this morning in the northern Gaza Strip," PIJ’s "military wing," Saraya al-Quds, said in an Arabic statement.

"Work is underway to complete certain procedures that precede the process of handing over the body, in accordance with established protocols," the Iranian-backed terrorist organization added.

Hamas, in a separate statement, said the body would be handed over to the ICRC inside Gaza at 5 p.m. local time.

Before the transfer, two captives taken from Israel were in Gaza: Israel Police counterterror officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai citizen Sudthisak Rinthalak.

Rinthalak’s father, Thong Ma, told Israel’s Army Radio on Wednesday he feels sad that he hasn’t been able to give his son a proper burial for over two years.

"I feel I always worry about him, I pray for him," the bereaved father said, speaking with the channel in Thai through a translator.

On Wednesday morning, Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office said that forensic examinations had determined that "findings" transferred from Gaza the previous day do not belong to any of the remaining captives.

"The families of the two fallen hostages have been informed," the PMO stated. "The effort to bring them home will not stop until the completion of the mission—to lay them to rest with dignity in their homeland."

Under the ceasefire brokered by the Trump administration that went into effect on Oct. 10, the Palestinian terrorist group committed to returning on Oct. 13 all 28 bodies it was holding.

However, Hamas has slow-walked the return of the deceased hostages.

The most recent handover took place on Nov. 25, when the terrorist group transferred the remains of Dror Or. He was buried on Sunday.

The PMO reiterated last week that Hamas must fulfill its obligations, vowing that the Jewish state "will not compromise" until every captive is brought home.

© JNS.