The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday morning that forensic examination had determined that the “findings” transferred from the Gaza Strip a day earlier do not belong to any of the hostages captured by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
“The families of the two fallen hostages have been informed,” the PMO stated. “The effort to bring them home will not stop until the completion of the mission—to lay them to rest with dignity in their homeland.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday handed over to Israel remains that it had received from Hamas terrorists, per the PMO.
The remains were transferred to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv for identification, it said on Tuesday.
The bodies of two captives remain in Gaza: Israel Police counter-terror officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.
Israel’s Channel 14 News broadcaster on Tuesday night aired exclusive video footage of the gun battle in Kibbutz Alumim in which Gvili was mortally wounded.
The footage shows Gvili running over two terrorists while taking heavy fire. The officer in Israel’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit was then shot in the leg, having already been wounded in the shoulder.
Despite his injuries, Gvili kept firing at the gunmen while warning fellow police officers of additional terrorists moving in. After almost an hour of fighting, the terrorists reached him, killed him and abducted his body.
Under the ceasefire brokered by the Trump administration that went into effect on Oct. 10, the Palestinian terrorist group committed to returning on Oct. 13 all 28 bodies it was holding.
However, Hamas has slow-walked the return of the deceased hostages.
The most recent handover took place on Nov. 25, when the terrorist group transferred the remains of Dror Or. He was buried on Sunday.
The PMO said last week that Hamas must fulfill its obligations, vowing that the Jewish state “will not compromise” until every captive is brought home.
