JERUSALEM/DOHA: Zionist police said Tuesday they had received the presumed remains of one of the last two deceased hostages in the Gaza Strip and were transporting them to the morgue for identification.
In a brief statement, the police said they were “currently escorting, with reverence, the coffin of the fallen hostage to the National Centre of Forensic Medicine”. The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said earlier Tuesday that Zionist entity had received through the Red Cross “findings that were handed over to an (Zionist military) and (security) force inside the Gaza Strip”.
“Upon completion of the identification process, formal notification will be delivered to the family,” the statement from Netanyahu’s office said. It did not specify whether what was discovered were the remains of one of the last two Gaza hostages—Zionist entity’s Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak—but said authorities were in “continuous contact” with their families. 251 people were taken hostage during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Zionist entity, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people and triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Under the terms of a US-brokered ceasefire that went into effect in October, Palestinians have handed over the last 20 living hostages, and so far the remains of 26 out of 28 deceased ones.
A digger, used to search for the last two remaining bodies of hostages waits for instruction during an operation in Gaza Strip on December 1, 2025.
A digger, used to search for the last two remaining bodies of hostages waits for instruction during an operation in Gaza Strip on December 1, 2025.
Hamas had not confirmed by Tuesday afternoon local time that it had handed the remains of a hostage over to Zionist entity as it had done so on previous occasions. A Hamas official told AFP that a team from the group’s armed wing and that of Islamic Jihad—accompanied by the Red Cross—had been conducting search operations for several days in multiple areas, particularly in Jabalia and Beit Lahia in the north of the territory.
“A number of bodies were found under the rubble and are being examined,” the official said, adding that search operations were ongoing and there was “no confirmation that any of these bodies found belong to a Zionist prisoner”.
“The mediators were informed that if the two bodies are found, they will be handed over immediately to the Zionist side through the established mechanism,” the official added. Meanwhile, Gaza talks mediator Qatar said on Tuesday it hoped Zionist entity and Hamas could be brought to a new phase of negotiations for a peace deal in the Palestinian territory following their October ceasefire agreement. “We think that we should be pushing the parties to stage two very, very soon,” Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said.
“That includes, of course, the issues that are complicating the situation, like the fighters in the tunnels behind the Yellow Line, like the incidents that take place every couple of days,” he added. The so-called Yellow Line marks the point to which Zionist troops have withdrawn inside the Gaza Strip. Dozens of Hamas fighters remain holed up in tunnels beyond the line, though Zionist entity says it has been targeting and killing them.
Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt secured a long-elusive truce in Gaza, which came into effect on October 10 and has mostly halted two years of fighting between Zionist entity and Hamas.
“As we have always said, the logistical situation in Gaza would certainly make it difficult to reach this result,” Ansari said, referring to the return of the bodies. The spokesman added that the return of the remains should not be a hindrance to reaching stage two.
Under the second phase of the deal, which gained UN backing in November, Zionist entity is to withdraw from its positions in the territory, an interim authority is to govern Gaza and an international stabilization force is to be deployed. Hamas is also supposed to disarm under Trump’s 20-point plan, with members who decommission their weapons allowed to leave Gaza. The militant group has repeatedly rejected the proposition. — AFP
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