International Committee Retrieves Remains of Dead Captive in Gaza, According to Israeli Authorities

Humanitarian Vehicle in Gaza City
A Red Cross vehicle in the Gaza Strip. Photo: 15 October 2025

Israel's military announced that a coffin of a deceased hostage has been transferred to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza Strip and is now on its way to IDF troops within the territory.

Through a statement on X, the IDF requested the general population to act with sensitivity and wait for formal confirmation, which will initially be shared with the families.

Officials emphasized that Hamas was required to hand over all dead captives in accordance with a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

This comes after an earlier announcement from Hamas that it would transfer the remains of an Israeli captive on that day.

Hamas recently returned the remains of several of the twenty-eight dead hostages in the territory, and freed all twenty surviving captives.

There is fury in Israel that Hamas has not returned all the bodies according to last week's ceasefire deal – although the US has minimized the suggestion that it amounts to a breach.

Through its communications on the platform late on Friday, the Israeli military gave no additional information on the location the hostage's coffin would be taken after its transfer by the Red Cross.

Meanwhile, media outlets stated that a small ceremony – officiated by a army chaplain – would be held in Gaza, and the remains would then be transported to the city for verification.

Hamas has stated it remained committed to the truce, including keenness to transfer all remaining corpses.

Hamas accused the Israeli leader of hindering its ability to search for hostages' remains by preventing equipment and excavators into Gaza.

Speaking at a memorial for those killed of the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack, Netanyahu said he was determined to secure the return of the dead hostages still in the strip, and that the country would continue to combat militancy with full force.

As part of the truce agreement mediated by the former US president, Israeli authorities released two hundred fifty Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Following Hamas said it was unable to retrieve all the bodies, two senior Trump advisers said arrangements to move to the subsequent stage of the ceasefire deal were ongoing.

The advisers told the media that the US government did not at this time believe the organization had broken the deal by not retrieving more remains, and said the group had operated sincerely by providing details with mediators.

Although the full text of the agreement between Israeli officials and the Palestinian group has not been released, an unofficial copy which appeared in news outlets seemed to permit the possibility that not all of the bodies would be readily available.

Israeli forces initiated a operation in the region in response to the incident, in which Hamas-led gunmen took the lives of approximately 1,200 individuals in southern Israel and captured 251 people.

No fewer than 67,967 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in the territory since then, per the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen by the UN as reliable.

Jill Walters
Jill Walters

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