Forensics institute confirms the fourth body received overnight was not one of the hostages

Dr. Chen Kugel, head of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir), says that the fourth body that arrived yesterday from the Gaza Strip “is not associated with one of the deceased captives.”

The institute confirmed this morning that it had received the bodies last night of three slain hostages, Tamir Nimrodi, Uriel Baruch, and Eitan Levy.

Kugel says that tests were carried out to determine the cause of death, to provide families with full information on their loved ones’ final moments.

Dr. Nurit Bublil, head of the lab department at the institute, says multi-disciplinary forensic teams have been working “around the clock” over the past two days to identify the deceased captives, using “advanced forensic methodologies, including complex imaging techniques, dental record comparisons, anthropological profiling and DNA analysis.”

On Tuesday, the institute identified the bodies of deceased hostages Guy Illouz, Yossi Sharabi, Bipin Joshi and Daniel Perez.

Earlier today, a senior Hamas source told Al Jazeera that the fourth body it returned overnight was “a soldier who was captured in a resistance operation.”

The source said the incident took place in May 2024 in the Jabaliya refugee camp, during which an IDF soldier was killed and captured — an incident that at the time the military swiftly denied had occurred.