Defense officials said Monday that Hamas would not be returning the body of a slain hostage later in the day, despite earlier saying that such a handover could take place.
The remains of two hostages killed on October 7, 2023, are still in Gaza: Israeli policeman Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, killed fending off the Hamas-led invasion in Kibbutz Alumim; and Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai national murdered in Kibbutz Be’eri, where he worked in agriculture.
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the media during the morning that Israel was preparing for the possibility that Hamas might return the body of a hostage during the afternoon.
However, there was no subsequent clarification if the handover would take place, and the terror group made no announcement that it intends to return any hostages.
By the afternoon, defense officials informed media outlets that no hostage return was expected.
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Channel 12 reported, without citing sources, that Israeli officials believe Hamas has found the body of a hostage but is not prepared to return it yet. The assessment is that the body was found in the area of Beit Lahiya.
Hamas reportedly told mediators that the body is not that of a hostage, but Al-Jazeera initially reported that it was. Israel has demanded that Hamas immediately give back the body, apparently believing it is that of Gvili.
Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) arrive at the site where Hamas is allegedly searching for the remains of hostages in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, Dec. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
The speculation came amid reports that Hamas and the Red Cross were searching in two specific areas of Gaza for the remains of the hostages.
Teams from the Red Cross and Hamas’s military wing searched for the remains of an Israeli hostage in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, Arabic media, including the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network, reported.
The camp is mostly on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line.
The Turkish-based TRT network broadcast footage apparently showing the search in Jabalia. The video showed Hamas fighters positioned around heavy construction equipment and excavators clearing rubble.
Israel has accused Hamas of staging false search operations for the cameras and the Red Cross. In October, it published drone footage showing Hamas operatives planting the remains of a hostage at a search site and then making a display of finding the body for the benefit of Red Cross officials.
جرى تسليم 26 محتجزاً من أصل 28 منذ بدء اتفاق وقف إطلاق النار.. كتائب القسام وفرق اللجنة الدولية للصليب الأحمر تواصل أعمال البحث عن جثة أسير إسرائيلي في مخيم جباليا شمال قطاع غزة.#تفاعل ليصل إليك كل جديد pic.twitter.com/WKzGZiq5th
— TRT عربي (@TRTArabi) December 1, 2025
Al-Jazeera later said that the searches ended without finding a body.
On Sunday, the network had reported that teams were conducting a search for the remains of an “Israeli prisoner” in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya.
Beit Lahiya also lies on the Hamas-controlled side of the Gaza ceasefire line.
The bodies of 26 deceased hostages have been returned gradually, without any assurances or fixed timeline, over the course of the past seven weeks, as part of a US-brokered ceasefire that halted the war triggered by the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
On Sunday, a funeral was held for Dror Or, who was murdered in the Hamas attack but whose body was only returned last week.
Mourners wave Israeli flags as the convoy carries the coffin of slain Israeli slain hostage Dror Or, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The first phase of the deal, delineated in an October 9 ceasefire agreement, includes the return of all hostages, living and deceased. The rest of the US-backed plan, which has not been formally agreed on, would see Israeli troops withdraw further from Gaza as Hamas disarms and hands control over to a transitional governing body and multinational peacekeeping force.
At a rally on Saturday night, Gvili’s father, Itzik Gvili, said there must be “no next phase” to the current Gaza ceasefire, and “no ‘day after’ in Gaza,” until Hamas returns the last two bodies.
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