Israel receives via the Red Cross the remains of one of its prisoners from the Hamas in Gaza

Israel confirmed on Wednesday that the body handed over by Hamas on Tuesday belonged to an Israeli-US citizen who was kidnapped by Hamas during its attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Hamas returned the hostage’s body on Tuesday evening as part of a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip brokered by US President Donald Trump.

A statement issued by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Following the completion of the identification process of the hostage by the National Center of Forensic Medicine… representatives of the Israeli army informed the family of the deceased hostage, Sergeant Itai Chen, that he had returned to Israel and his body had been identified”.

Since the agreement began on October 10, Hamas has released the 20 living Israeli prisoners and the bodies of 21 out of 28 prisoners, while Israel previously claimed that one of the bodies received didn’t match any of its hostages.

Israel is conditioning the start of negotiations to launch the second phase of the agreement on receiving the remaining bodies of the prisoners, while Hamas asserts that it will take time to retrieve them due to the massive destruction in Gaza.