Bodies returned by Hamas identified as slain hostages Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch

By Emanuel Fabian

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30 October 2025, 10:37 pm

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Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Hamas hostages Amiram Cooper (L) and Sahar Baruch, whose remains were returned to Israel from Gaza on October 30, 2025. (Courtesy)

Military representatives have notified the families of Amiram Cooper, 85, and Sahar Baruch, 25, that their bodies were returned to Israel by Hamas this afternoon.

Cooper was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, and was killed in captivity, the IDF confirmed in June 2024.

Baruch was kidnapped by terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri during the onslaught and was killed during a failed IDF hostage rescue mission in December 2023.

“The Israeli government shares in the deep sorrow of the Cooper and Baruch families and of all the families of the fallen hostages,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement.

It says that Israel is “determined, committed, and working tirelessly” to bring back the 11 remaining slain hostages for burial, adding that Hamas is “required to fulfill its commitments to the mediators and return them as part of the implementation of the agreement.”