The bodies were identified as 27-year-old Inbar Hayman, the last female hostage to be held in Gaza since she was kidnapped from a music festival during a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. She was abducted alive by Palestinian militants but in December 2023, her family was informed that Inbar had been murdered in Hamas captivity.
The second body was identified as 39-year-old Master Sergeant Muhammad Al-Atarash, who was killed during battle with Palestinian militants on October 7, 2023 and his body was taken hostage into Gaza. Under a United States- brokered deal between Israel in Hamas, aimed at ending the two-year war in Gaza, Hamas was to release the remaining 20 living and 28 dead hostages in exchange for Israel releasing nearly 2 000 Palestinian convicted prisoners and detainees from its jails. Hamas has handed over 10 coffins so far, one of them containing a body that was not an Israeli hostage, the army said on Wednesday, leaving the remains of 19 hostages still in Gaza.
–Reuters–
