Khaberni - The team of the Israeli Institute of Forensic Medicine has managed to identify the bodies of three of the four Israeli detainees delivered by Hamas to Israel through the International Committee of the Red Cross overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, amidst doubts surrounding the identity of the fourth body. Israeli media this Wednesday morning, including Channel 12 and the Ynet website, mentioned a possibility that the fourth body might not be Israeli, at a time when the Forum of Israeli Detainee Families announced that one of the bodies received from Gaza belonged to a soldier killed by Israeli shelling.
It should be noted that the four bodies were returned last night after significant pressure Israel exerted on Hamas, including threats to close the Rafah crossing to the entry of humanitarian aid, prevent the Gazans from leaving, and other measures. Hamas is expected to deliver more bodies to Israel today, having handed over eight out of a total of 28 bodies in the past two days. The Israeli army, on Tuesday, stated that the bodies of four detainees delivered by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip were transferred to Israel. The army said in a statement: "Four coffins of dead hostages... crossed the border into Israel shortly before," confirming that the bodies will undergo examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine to determine their identities.
US President Donald Trump posted on his "Truth Social" platform on Tuesday, "All twenty hostages (detainees) in Gaza have returned in good condition," adding, "a great burden has been lifted, but the mission is not yet complete." He also stated, "Hamas has not yet delivered all the bodies of the remaining hostages as promised. The second phase begins now." During an audience with Argentine President Javier Milei, a journalist asked Trump about the extent of Hamas's commitment to its role in the deal, to which the US president replied, "We'll see."
It is worth mentioning that in the previous deal, the Israeli state received a body in February, which turned out not to be Israeli and seems to have been mistakenly delivered due to field conditions in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu attacked Hamas at the time, affirming that Israel had received the body of a Palestinian woman from Gaza instead of the Israeli detainee Shiri Bibas. Netanyahu claimed in his statement, "They did not only kidnap the father Jordan Bibas, the young mother Shiri, and their two small children. In an indescribably cynical manner, they did not return Shiri alongside her small children, the little angels, and placed a Gazan woman's body in the coffin. We will act decisively to bring Shiri home along with all our captives, alive and dead alike, and we will ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this harsh and vile violation of the agreement." Later, the correct body was handed over.
In reference to the difficulty of identifying bodies sometimes, even with advanced scientific methods, the director of the Israeli Institute of Forensic Medicine, Dr. Heinz Kugel, stated at the time that examining the circumstances of death is "no less crucial than identifying identity." Nevertheless, he mentioned then that the process is expected to take some time. Kugel continued: "We will make every effort, which is not always possible, especially with remains that arrive after a long time from death, and in all cases, we will make every effort for families to know what happened to their loved ones. We must consider that sometimes this is not possible due to the condition of the evidence."
