Hamas on Wednesday released the remains of what it said were four Israeli hostages, the last in a group of eight former captives and 25 living ones who were slated for repatriation in the first phase of a fragile cease-fire deal between Israel and the militant group.
Hamas’s military wing said the remains belonged to Shlomo Mansour, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, and Tsachi Idan — Israelis kidnapped during the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that started the war. Israel did not immediately comment.
The release followed several fraught days of negotiations, after Israel refused on Saturday to deliver 620 Palestinian prisoners whom it had agreed to exchange for six Israeli hostages. Since late January, when the cease-fire went into effect, Israel and Hamas have been regularly exchanging hostages taken to Gaza for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
After Hamas released the six Israelis on Saturday — most of them in performative events designed to show the militant group’s continued control in Gaza — Israel refused to free the Palestinian prisoners, saying it would not do so until Hamas committed to releasing more hostages and forgoing “humiliation ceremonies.”
Before returning hostages, Hamas has often paraded them through shouting throngs of the group’s supporters, enraging Israeli officials. Last week, before Hamas handed over coffins said to contain the remains of four captives, the militant group staged a display with music and taunts aimed at the Israeli government. Volker Türk, the United Nations human rights chief, called the event “abhorrent and cruel.”
Israeli authorities had forensic teams present at the handover to attempt an initial identification of the bodies, the Health Ministry said, after which they would be taken to Israel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Israel is expected to free the 620 Palestinian prisoners after it has confirmed the identities of the four returned bodies.
Here’s a closer look at the deceased hostages Hamas said it released.
Shlomo Mansour
Mr. Mansour was 85 years old when Hamas led the attack on Israel in 2023. He was the oldest hostage taken, and his death was not confirmed until recently. This month, the Israeli authorities said that Mr. Mansour had been killed in the initial attack and that his body had been taken to Gaza.
During the attack, militants stormed the home of Mr. Mansour and his wife, Mazal Mansour, in Kibbutz Kissufim, near the Gaza border. Armed men dragged them both outside where they handcuffed Mr. Mansour and beat him, his daughter told Israeli news media. His wife managed to escape and hid in a neighbor’s home.
Mr. Mansour was born in Iraq and immigrated to Israel as a teen. He managed the kibbutz chicken coops and was a lover of ice cream. Almost a year ago last March, his family marked what would have been his 86th birthday with a request that the public eat ice cream on his behalf and post a picture on social media with the caption “Bring.Shlomo.Home.”
Itzhak Elgarat
Mr. Elgarat was 68 when he was captured during the attack. Fighters took him from his safe room in Kibbutz Nir Oz and shot him in the hand, according to his brother, Danny Elgarat, who spoke to him on the morning of the attack. Mr. Elgarat was a dual Israeli and Danish citizen.
In July, Danny told Israeli news media that the Israeli military had told him that Itzhak was probably not alive, although there was some evidence that he had survived the attack and that his hand had been treated. Israeli officials did not confirm the death at the time.
In October last year, Danny went on a hunger strike and protested daily near the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, to press for a hostage deal. In January, Danny said in an address to Israeli lawmakers that his brother was likely dead and urged them to prioritize the release of living captives. “Leave the bodies there,” he said. “Bring back living people.”
There are roughly 25 living hostages still being held in Gaza, along with the bodies of more than 30 others, according to the Israeli government.
Tsachi Idan
Mr. Idan was 49 when he was taken captive from his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. His oldest daughter, Maayan, 18, was shot and killed during the attack; she died in front of two of her siblings and her parents. Part of the family’s experience was streamed live by the militants after they got the password for the phone of his wife, Gali Idan. (Another daughter was not at home at the time.)
Ms. Idan, in interviews after the ordeal, spoke about what the family had endured — she said that her husband had been taken away with his hands tied behind his back as their children begged the militants, who said that he would return, not to kill him. She and two of their children managed to escape.
Mr. Idan’s mother, Devorah Idan, spoke at a rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv in August, describing the hostages’ continued captivity as “a nightmare.”
His family said in a statement on Wednesday, after Hamas identified the bodies it would be handing over, that they were “still waiting for the much-needed certainty” that confirmation of his death would bring. They said that only after his arrival in Israel and “after all necessary examinations are conducted by the authorized state authorities” would they feel confident that the remains were Mr. Idan’s.
Ohad Yahalomi
Mr. Yahalomi was shot during the 2023 attack in a gunfight with militants at his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and was taken hostage. He was 49 at the time.
His wife and three children were taken from their home — the couple’s 12-year-old son was separated from his mother and siblings and was taken hostage, while the other three family members managed to escape. The boy, Eitan, was released in November 2023, during an earlier cease-fire deal.
Mr. Yahalomi’s family said that he had worked for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and was enthusiastic about wildlife. Efrat Yahalomi, his sister, who has traveled around the world to advocate a hostage deal, has said it is “incredibly painful” to know that captives are still languishing in captivity.
“Almost nine months have passed, and I’m still standing here with a heavy heart, while you, Ohad, are still not here,” she said in a statement in late June.
