Hamas hands over remains of 2 more Israeli hostages

Two more sets of remains belonging to deceased Israeli hostages who were held by Hamas in Gaza were returned to Israel on Thursday, Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office said. 

The transfer came after a previous delay by Hamas in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing Hamas of violating the ceasefire and ordering “powerful strikes” on Gaza earlier this week. 

The flare-up in violence had sparked fears the U.S.-brokered peace deal between Israel and Hamas could collapse, but on Tuesday, Israel said the ceasefire was back on.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said a military ceremony would be held when the hostage remains were received in Israel. They would then be transferred to Israel’s Health Ministry National Center of Forensic Medicine for identification.

The Israel Defense Forces later said the remains have been identified as Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch, and that their families have been notified. Based on information and intelligence available, the IDF estimated that Cooper was murdered while in captivity in February 2024. He was 84 and leaves behind a wife, four children and 11 grandchildren. The IDF estimated that Baruch was killed in captivity on Dec. 8, 2023. He was 25 and leaves behind his parents and two siblings. 

“The IDF expresses deep condolences to the families, continues to make every effort to return all the deceased hostages, and is prepared for the continued implementation of the agreement,” it said on X. 

The bodies of 17 Israeli hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack have now been returned to Israel since the start of the peace deal, leaving 11 remaining in Gaza.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas released all living Israeli hostages in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and wartime detainees. Israel pulled back its troops to a designated line within Gaza, halted its military offensive and increased aid into the territory.  

Hamas also agreed to hand over the remains of all 28 deceased hostages, but has since said it is unable to locate or retrieve some of the remains due to the destruction caused by the war in Gaza. 

Israel said the strikes in Gaza this week were in retaliation for the shooting and killing of one of its soldiers in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. Hamas said its fighters had “no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah.” 

Netanyahu’s order for the strikes also came after Hamas returned a set of remains that Israel said belonged to a hostage recovered earlier in the war. 

More than 100 Palestinians were killed in the strikes, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health. 

Speaking at a graduation ceremony for military commanders in southern Israel on Thursday, Netanyahu warned, “If Hamas continues to blatantly violate the ceasefire, it will experience powerful strikes, as it did the day before yesterday and yesterday.” 

He said Israel would “act as needed” to remove “immediate danger” to its forces.

“At the end of the day, Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized. If foreign forces do this, all the better. And if they don’t, we will do it,” Netanyahu said.