Police say body found near Gaza most likely an October 7 terrorist

A body believed to be that of a terrorist who took part in the October 7 attacks was discovered on Thursday in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council in southern Israel, an area that borders the Gaza Strip, the Israel Police said.

The body was found near the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction by a civilian, who according to the Ynet news site was carrying out infrastructure work in the area. The civilian contacted the police, who arrived at the scene to remove the body for investigation and identification.

In a statement, police confirmed the body was found “in a state of advanced decay,” indicating it had been there for quite some time.

An initial investigation at the scene uncovered a tactical vest empty of any supplies or ammunition, as well as a shirt bearing what appeared to be the logo of Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, which led the shock assault on southern Israel on October 7.

As such, the police said they suspected the body belonged to “a Hamas terrorist who was killed during the attack.”

The body was transferred to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, where it will undergo a proper identification process, police added.

The IDF said it killed some 1,000 Hamas operatives inside Israel on October 7 and in the days following, when terrorists invaded Israel and murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages to Gaza.

Earlier this month, Dolev Yehud, an Israeli initially thought to have been taken hostage to the Gaza Strip by Hamas terrorists on October 7, was declared dead after his remains were identified in Israel.

Some victims of the Hamas massacres had their bodies burned or otherwise mutilated beyond recognition, making identification difficult. New scientific identification tests, paired with information on where the remains were found, confirmed that a previously unidentified body belonged to Yehud.