Israel announced this Tuesday, October 21, that it had identified the body of the hostage who had been handed over on Monday to the Army and the Shin Bet (intelligence service) by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Government confirmed that Hamas released the body of Tal Haimi, killed on October 7, 2023 and kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, on the border with Gaza.
Haimi, 42, a fourth-generation resident of kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, was part of the emergency response team. He had four children, including one born after the attack.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is still waiting for Hamas to hand over the remains of another 15 dead hostages. Thirteen bodies have been released since the ceasefire began.
After exchanging attacks earlier this week, Hamas negotiators reiterated that the group is committed to ensuring the war “ends once and for all.”
“From the day we signed the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, we were determined and committed to seeing it through to the end,” Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, who is in Cairo, told Egyptian television station Al-Qahera News on Monday night.
The North American vice-president, JD Vance, is expected to arrive in the region this Tuesday to reinforce the ceasefire, in force since October 10, which has fluctuated in recent days.
The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by attacks led by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, in which around 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage.
In retaliation, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, which caused more than 68,000 deaths, according to local authorities controlled by Hamas, the destruction of almost all of the territory’s infrastructure and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.