The bodies of four Israeli hostages were returned from Gaza to Israel on Wednesday night, concluding the first phase of the ceasefire deal between the Israeli government and Palestinian terror groups.
The bodies of Shlomo Mantzur, 85; Itzik Elgarat, 69; Tsahi Idan, 49; and Ohad Yahalomi, 49, were transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross, which then handed them over to the IDF at the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
The bodies of four slain hostages —Tsahi Idan, Ohad Yahalomi, Itzik Elgarat, and Shlomo Mantzur— are expected to be handed over tonight, an Israeli official tells me.
— Lazar Berman (@Lazar_Berman) February 26, 2025
Egypt is expected to facilitate the transfer, and in exchange, Israel will release 602 Palestinian prisoners. pic.twitter.com/NK3VMjVxz4
From there, the four bodies were transferred to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification. The families of the four confirmed the forensic experts have positively identified their remains.
In return for the four, Israel is set to free nearly 600 Palestinian prisoners. Since the start of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, Israel has freed over 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, some convicted for their roles in deadly terror attacks. Hamas has released 30 hostages, including five Thai nationals, since the deal went into effect last month.
The hostages
Mantzur was the oldest person taken hostage by Hamas during the attacks on October 7, 2023. He was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Kissufim. His wife, Mazal, managed to escape the kidnapping attempt. Mantzur was born in Iraq, but lived in Kissufim for most of his adult life, where he managed a chicken coop.
Yahalomi and Elgarat were kidnapped from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Elgarat, who had Danish citizenship, was wounded during a shootout with the terrorists who raided his home, and eventually kidnapped into Gaza.
Yahalomi was abducted along with his wife Batsheva; daughter Yael, 10; son Eitan, 12; and two-year-old daughter Liel. The family members were all taken on different vehicles, and Yahalomi was shot and wounded in the ordeal. The moped that carried Batsheva, Yael and Liel encountered an IDF tank, allowing the three to escape. Eitan was freed from captivity in the November 2023 hostage deal.
Idan was abducted from his home in Nahal Oz. His 18-year-old daughter Maayan was shot dead by terrorists inside the home. Idan’s wife Gali, daughter Yael, 12, and son Shahar, 9, survived a kidnapping attempt after the terrorists simply left them behind.