The announcement comes after the remains handed over to Israel by Hamas on Tuesday night were confirmed to belong to a hostage: 19-year-old Israeli-American soldier Itay Chen, who was killed in combat during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and was taken to Gaza dead. He was the last remaining hostage with American citizenship.
With today's repatriation, Israel has now returned 285 dead Palestinians to the Gaza Strip, Nasser Hospital said in a statement. Hamas has in turn returned 21 of a total of 28 dead hostages who remained in Gaza when the ceasefire came into effect on October 10.
According to the current ceasefire agreement, Israel is to return 15 dead Palestinians for every dead Israeli handed over from Gaza.
