Jerusalem, 14 October, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Israel recevieved the remains of four fallen hostages on Tuesday night as Hamas came under pressure to return all the bodies.
After a brief ceremony, the remains of the deceased hostages will be taken to the National Forensic Institute to confirm their identities and determine causes of death. Officials at the center cautioned that the identification process could take hours, or more than one day depending on the complexity of each case. Unlike Monday’s handover, Hamas did not specify the names of the dead.
Israeli forensics workers confirmed the identities of the four bodies returned on Monday as Guy Ilouz, 26; Yossi Sharabi, 53; Capt. Daniel Peretz, a 22-year-old Israeli-South African national; and 24-year-old Nepalese national bipin joshi.
Once confirmed, the number of bodies still in Gaza will be 22. It is believed Hamas will hand over more remains on Wednesday.
Visiting recovering hostages in Petah Tikva’s beilinson hospital on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to bring home the remains of all the hostages.
Israel “will spare no effort and no means to bring them back,” he insisted.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel invoked clauses in the ceasefire closing the Rafah border crossing and limiting the amount of the humanitarian aid.
The families of returned hostages also called for the remaining bodies to be returned as quickly as possible.
“There are still 24 hostages held by Hamas whose families long for closure. They deserve to be honored and given a proper burial. I call on the international community to keep pressuring Hamas. We will not stop our struggle as families until all the remaining 24 hostages are home,” said Lishay Miran-Lavi, wife of former hostage Omri Miran, who is recovering at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital.
As part of the ceasefire, Israel redeployed its forces in Gaza and released 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel insists that Hamas be disarmed and have no role in governing post-war Gaza. The Iran-backed teror group violently seized control of the Strip from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. To prevent weapons smuggling, Israel and Egypt and imposed a blockade.
Tuesday was also the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which on the Hebrew calendar is the anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack. Around 1,200 people killed that day and 252 Israelis and foreigners were abducted.
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