Israel Receives Body of Hamas Hostage Tal Haimi

The Israeli military has confirmed that the body handed over by Hamas on Monday night has been identified as that of Sergeant Major Tal Haimi, 4. 

Haimi is the 13th deceased Israeli hostage to be returned and identified since the latest Gaza ceasefire agreement was reached on October 9 in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh. 

According to the terms of the ceasefire deal, 15 more deceased hostages are expected to be transferred by Hamas in the coming days.

Earlier on Monday, a coffin carrying Haimi’s remains arrived in Tel Aviv for identification after being retrieved by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza and handed over to Israeli forces.

Meanwhile, Israel has released 250 Palestinian hostages and 1,718 detainees from Gaza, and returned 15 bodies of Palestinians in exchange for the remains of each Israeli hostage.

Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas is obligated to return all living and deceased Israeli hostages within the first 72 hours after the truce takes effect.