Israel says coffin from Hamas did not contain another hostage’s body

Israel says the coffin handed over by Hamas on Monday does not contain the body of another deceased hostage, but rather contains more of the remains of another person who was detained and whose body was previously returned.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said forensic tests showed that the remains belonged to Ofir Tzarvati, whose body was found by Israeli forces in late 2023, and not to any of the 13 deceased hostages who remain in Gaza.

It accused Hamas of committing a “clear violation” of the ceasefire agreement signed two weeks ago in Gaza and said that Netanyahu would discuss “response steps.”

Israeli media say that officials are discussing taking punitive measures against Hamas for returning only 15 of the 28 dead hostages.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

The group said it was committed to the agreement brokered by the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, but needed help to find the remains buried under the rubble left by the two-year-old war.

The military wing of the Hamas movement announced on Monday evening that it would hand over to the Red Cross the body of the Israeli hostage who was recovered earlier in the day.

A few hours later, the Israeli army confirmed that its forces in Gaza had received a coffin and taken it to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification procedures.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced that “the remains of the late hostage Ofir Tzrefati – of blessed memory, who returned from the Gaza Strip in a military operation about two years ago – had been found.”

He added, “This constitutes a clear violation of the agreement by the Hamas terrorist organization.” He added, “Prime Minister Netanyahu will hold a security discussion with the heads of the security services to discuss Israel’s steps in response to the violations.”

Tzrefati, a 27-year-old dual Israeli-French citizen, was shot while being kidnapped by Hamas gunmen at the Nova music festival during the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which sparked the Gaza War.

At the beginning of December 2023, the Israeli army announced that its forces found his body in Gaza and returned it to Israel.

In March 2024, additional remains belonging to him were returned for burial, according to the Israel Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

“We slept last night with anticipation and hope that another family would end a painful two-year cycle and bring their loved one home for burial. But once again, our family has been deceived as we try to heal,” the Tzarfati family said in a statement.

They added: “This morning we were shown video footage of the removal, burial and delivery of the remains of our beloved son to the Red Cross, an abhorrent manipulation aimed at sabotaging the deal and abandoning efforts to repatriate all hostages.”

The Israeli authorities did not release the footage. But Israeli media reported that an Israeli army drone filmed Hamas members removing the remains from a building in Gaza City, burying them in the ground in a different location, and then calling in a Red Cross team to help recover them.

The Forum for the Families of Hostages and Missing Persons called for an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss a response to what it described as “Hamas’ despicable actions.”

He added, “Hamas’ repeated violations and the Israeli army’s documentation prove what we knew and stated clearly and unequivocally: Hamas knows the location of the hostages and continues to act with contempt, deceiving the United States and mediators while insulting the honor of our loved ones.”

He added: “The Israeli government cannot and should not ignore this, and must act decisively against these violations.”

Israeli officials are understood to be discussing with US mediators various possible responses to Hamas’ failure to return all the bodies of deceased hostages within 72 hours of the ceasefire taking effect on October 10.

One such project under consideration is said to be the expansion of the area of ​​Gaza under the control of the IDF, which is demarcated by the so-called “yellow line.”

Public broadcaster Kan News said that the first step taken by Israel would be to stop allowing Hamas members and Red Cross representatives to visit territories controlled by the Israeli army to help an Egyptian team equipped with earth-moving equipment in searching for the remaining dead hostages.

Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian confirmed on Monday that such visits are allowed “under the close supervision of the Israeli army.”

“Hamas knows their whereabouts and there is no other option but to release them in their homeland,” she said in a press conference.

But the Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel quoted Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem as saying that the claim that Hamas knows all the sites is “false.”

All 20 living Israeli hostages were released shortly after the ceasefire took effect on 10 October in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 Gaza detainees.

Israel also handed over the bodies of 195 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of the 13 Israeli hostages previously returned by Hamas, in addition to the bodies of two foreign hostages – one Thai and one Nepalese.

Among the dead hostages who remain in Gaza are 11 Israelis, one Tanzanian, and one Thai.

Hamas’s chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said on Saturday that the movement faces “challenges” because Israeli forces have “changed the terrain of Gaza.”

He added, “In addition, some of those who buried the bodies were martyred or no longer remember where they buried them.”

All but one of the dead hostages remaining in Gaza were among 251 people kidnapped during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 other people were killed.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,500 people were killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Strip.