Israel says remains Hamas handed over on Tuesday are not those of a Gaza hostage

Israeli forensic services concluded that remains handed over by Hamas on Tuesday were not those of the last two hostages in Gaza, the office of Israel’s prime minister said.

Hamas had handed over remains described by the Red Cross as those of one of the last two deceased hostages still in Gaza, in line with commitments made under a U.S.-backed October ceasefire deal.

Israeli forces said they sent for forensic testing the remains they described as “findings.”

“The findings brought yesterday for examination from the Gaza Strip are not linked to any of the deceased hostages,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The identification had been made at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, it added.

The Al Quds Brigades— the armed wing of the Hamas-allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement — said later on Wednesday it was searching for a body of a hostage in northern Gaza, along with a team from the Red Cross.

It did not say which of the two remaining deceased hostages it was searching for.

The two are Israeli police officer Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak, both kidnapped during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that touched off two years of devastating war in Gaza.

The Geneva-based Red Cross has acted as an intermediary between Gaza militant groups and Israel throughout the war triggered by Hamas’ attack, helping to pave the way for the release of living hostages and the handover of remains.

A total of 31 workers from Thailand were abducted, the largest group of foreigners to be held in captivity. Most of them were released in the first and second ceasefires. The Thai Foreign Ministry has said in addition to the hostages, 46 Thais have been killed during the war.

Israel has been releasing 15 Palestinian bodies for the remains of each hostage as part of the ceasefire agreement. The Gaza Health Ministry said the total number of remains received so far is 330.