The Hostage and Missing Families Forum said that Shlomo Mantzur’s body was identified. The fourth returned body has yet to be ID’d as forensic analyses continues.
By JNS
Kibbutz Nir Oz announced on Thursday morning that Israeli hostages Itzik Elgarat and Ohad Yahalomi, whose bodies were among four returned to Israel overnight Wednesday, were murdered in Hamas captivity in Gaza.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum shortly thereafter confirmed the identification of Shlomo Mantzur’s remains, followed by Tsahi Idan’s family confirming that he has been identified as the fourth body returned from Gaza.
The terrorist organization handed over what it claimed were the bodies of Israelis Tsahi Idan, Ohad Yahalomi, Itzik Elgarat and Shlomo Mansour to the Red Cross at around midnight in Gaza.
The bodies of Itzik Elgarat, Shlomo Mansour, Tsahi Idan and Ohad Yahalomi have returned to Israel.
After today, no more hostages are slated to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal. Yet 59 hostages remain in captivity – living and dead. We have seen the conditions… pic.twitter.com/9626oDghoL
— ADL (@ADL) February 26, 2025
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the handover.
“The coffins were, with Egyptian mediation, handed over to an IDF force at the Kerem Shalom Crossing. The initial identification process on Israeli territory has begun,” the PMO said.
The identification process is underway at the L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv’s Abu Kabir neighborhood.
The Israeli Health Ministry stated that a full forensic examination to determine the cause of death of the four will be conducted at a later time.
In exchange for their return to Israel, Jerusalem is releasing some 600 Palestinian terrorists whose scheduled release on Feb. 22 was postponed due to ceasefire violations by Hamas, including the inhumane treatment of the hostages, who were forced to endure humiliating ceremonies upon their release.
The handover, the final exchange of the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, did not include a stage ceremony in front of a crowd of Gazans. These ceremonies during previous releases drew criticism from the United Nations and other international actors.
Palestinian medics cited by Reuters reported that Israel had returned the body of an unidentified Gazan woman—initially handed over by Hamas in place of slain hostage Shiri Bibas—to a hospital in the Gaza Strip, following the recovery of Bibas’s remains over the weekend.
A Hamas source told Reuters that the Palestinian detainees set for release include 445 men and 24 women and minors arrested in Gaza, along with 151 prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis.
The first phase of the ceasefire saw the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages for some 2,000 Palestinian terrorists, along with the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from some areas in Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid to the Strip.
As the 42-day truce approaches its expiration on Saturday, it remains unclear whether it will be extended to facilitate the release of more of the 59 remaining hostages, or if talks for a second phase of the deal will commence.