Hamas suspected of returning body not of hostage

By Emanuel Fabian

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

28 October 2025, 9:12 am

Edit

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

Heavy machinery amid a purported operation to recover the body of a hostage in the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City on October 27, 2025 (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

The body that Hamas returned to Israel last night may not belong to any of the hostages, according to new assessments after hours of identification efforts at the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv.

Officials have said that the identification process could take up to two days, though the vast majority of bodies returned by Hamas or recovered in Gaza have been identified within hours.

As of this morning, the body Hamas returned last night has not been identified, and authorities increasingly suspect it may not belong to any of the 13 dead hostages whose bodies are still held in the Strip.