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Israel receives body of one of final four Gaza captives

Israel receives body of one of final four Gaza captives
MENA
2 min read
14 November, 2025
The body of 73-year-old Meny Godard, which was found by Hamas in Khan Younis, was received by the Israeli army on Thursday.
Meny Godard is one of the final four captives still held in the Gaza Strip [Getty/file photo]

Israel received the body of one of the last four captives held in Gaza from the Red Cross on Thursday as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

The coffin was handed over in the Gaza Strip to the Israeli army and Shin Bet security service, the office said.

It later said forensics experts had confirmed the body was that of Israeli captive Meny Godard, killed at age 73 on the day of the Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered Israel's deadly war on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military informed Godard's family that "their loved one has been returned to Israel and that his identification has been completed", Netanyahu's office said.

Earlier on Thursday, the armed wings of Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad had said they would hand over the remains as part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel in Gaza.

Hamas said the body was found in Khan Younis in the south of the territory.

At the start of the truce, which came into effect on 10 October, Hamas was holding 20 living captives and 28 bodies of deceased captives.

It has since released all the living captives and before Thursday had returned the remains of 24 dead hostages, in line with the ceasefire terms.

In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians.

Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of deceased captives, while the Palestinian group says the process is slow because many are buried beneath Gaza's rubble after two years of war.