Hamas hostages: A German-Israeli among the dead

The body of the German-Israeli Tamir Nimrodi was among the Hamas hostages handed over to Israel on Tuesday. The 20-year-old’s family confirmed on Wednesday the return of his remains to Israel. There had been no sign of life from Nimrodi since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

He was stationed as a soldier on the border with the Gaza Strip and was kidnapped by the Islamists from a barracks into the Gaza Strip in his pajamas. “It is with broken hearts and unbearable pain that we announce that the body of Tamir, my beloved eldest son, was transferred from Gaza (yesterday) evening,” his father Alon Nimrodi wrote on Facebook.

The identities of two other Hamas hostages whose bodies were handed over to Israel on Tuesday evening were also confirmed. The families of Uriel Baruch and Eitan Levy expressed their “deep sadness” and “pain” over the deaths of the two men on online networks. Baruch was attending the Nova music festival when he was kidnapped by Hamas. Taxi driver Levy was killed after dropping off a friend at Kibbutz Beeri on the day of the Hamas attack.

Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages to Israel on Monday and Tuesday. However, in the ceasefire agreement with Israel it was agreed that the Islamists would hand over the remains of all 28 remaining hostages by Monday afternoon.

Two years after Hamas’ attack on Israel and the start of the resulting war in the Gaza Strip, a ceasefire came into force on Friday. Israel and Hamas had previously agreed to the first phase of a peace plan presented by US President Donald Trump.

According to Israeli figures, more than 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack. 251 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip. In the two years of war that followed, more than 67,100 people were killed in the Gaza Strip, according to information from the Hamas authorities that cannot be independently verified.