Israel says remains of four more Gaza hostages have arrived
The Israeli military said the remains of four more hostages handed over by Hamas on Tuesday were brought into Israel from Gaza, as the identities of those transferred a day earlier were confirmed.The remains were handed over to the Red Cross, then transferred to Israel, the latest step in implementing a ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war in the Gaza Strip.”Four coffins of deceased hostages… crossed the border into the state of Israel a short while ago,” the military said in a statement, adding that they were being taken for forensic testing.Already on Monday, Hamas had transferred the remains of four hostages, just hours after releasing the last 20 living hostages under the ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump.Separately, a Gaza hospital said it had received the bodies of 45 Palestinians handed back by Israel, also as part of Trump’s plan to end the war.Those whose remains were handed over on Monday were Israeli citizens Guy Iluz, Yossi Sharabi and Daniel Peretz, as well as Nepalese agriculture student Bipin Joshi.Sharabi, 53 at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, was taken from Kibbutz Beeri, and Peretz, 22 at the time, was killed on the day of the assault and his body taken to Gaza.”Now we can finally bring closure to the nightmare that began over two years ago, and give Yossi the dignified and loving burial he deserves,” Sharabi’s wife Nira was quoted as saying by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group.Iluz, who was 26 at the time of the attack, had been attending the Nova music festival when Hamas-led militants launched their assault.The military said Iluz was wounded and abducted alive, but later died of his injuries due to a lack of medical treatment while in captivity.His death was announced in December 2023.- ‘Courageous’ Joshi -The military said the final causes of death for the four hostages would be determined following forensic examinations.Joshi, who was 22 at the time of the attack, was part of a Nepalese agricultural training group that had arrived in Israel three weeks before the Hamas assault.He was abducted from Kibbutz Alumim.”It is assessed that he was murdered in captivity during the first months of the war,” the military said.Joshi’s Nepalese friend Himanchal Kattel, the group’s only survivor, told AFP the attackers had thrown a grenade into their shelter, which Joshi caught and threw away before it exploded, saving Kattel’s life.Joshi was a “courageous” student, his teacher Sushil Neupane said.”We were deeply hoping that Bipin would return home. This news hurts us all… Our hope has died,” he said.Families of hostages whose remains are still being held in Gaza waited anxiously.”It’s difficult. You know, we kind of had the rollercoaster on the up yesterday and now we’re on the down,” said Rotem Kuper, son of Amiran Kuper, whose remains are held in Gaza.- ‘Job is NOT DONE’ -In Tel Aviv, people gathered to celebrate the liberation of the living hostages and demand the return of the others’ remains.”I don’t know what to feel because I didn’t think (we’d) reach this day where all the living hostages will return,” demonstrator Barak Cohen told AFP.”But still I see great difficulties in returning the remaining dead hostages,” he said.Another participant, Tovah Baruch, said she was imagining “a world where all the hostages are back, everybody is buried and we work on a new era and with peace”.The bodies of 45 Palestinians that had been in Israeli custody were handed over to the Nasser Medical Centre in Gaza, the hospital said.Under the Trump deal, Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.”A big burden has been lifted, but the job is NOT DONE. THE DEAD HAVE NOT BEEN RETURNED, AS PROMISED! Phase two begins right NOW!!!” Trump said on X.Palestinian militants are still holding the bodies of 20 hostages, which are expected to be returned under the terms of the ceasefire agreement.”We are determined to bring everyone back,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after visiting hostages freed Monday at Beilinson Hospital in central Israel.The freed hostages had experienced weight loss, said hospital director Noa Eliakim Raz.”Being underground affects all the body’s systems,” she told journalists.”There is no fixed timetable — each person is recovering at their own pace. It’s important that they heal slowly,” she added.Twins Ziv and Gali Berman, who were reunited on Monday, said they had been held separately and in complete isolation, according to Channel 12.The two, who were 28 when abducted, described enduring long periods of hunger, alternating with short intervals when they were better fed, the report said.
