An Israeli celebrates with a bottle of sparking wine in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Israel on Monday October 13, 2025. On Thursday, Israeli forces said they have identified two more sets of bodies that returned from Gaza as belonging to hostages who were taken on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI | License Photo
Israeli forces announced Thursday morning the identification of two more bodies of deceased hostages recently returned from Gaza as part of a cease-fire deal with Hamas.
In a statement on X, the Israel Defense Forces said the identification process of two sets of remains has been completed and they can confirm that they belong to Inbar Haiman and Muhammad Alatrash.
Hamas has returned 10 bodies and 20 living hostages to Israel since Monday, including two bodies on Wednesday night, but Israeli authorities have said that one of the returned bodies did not belong to a hostage.
Of the remaining nine bodies, five have been identified as belonging to deceased Israeli hostages.
“IDF representatives informed the families of hostages Inbar Haiman, of blessed memory, and Advanced Staff Sgt. Muhammad Alatrash, of blessed memory, that their loved ones have been returned for burial,” the IDF said in its statement.
Haiman, 27, was attending the Nova music festival when it was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The IDF said she was killed that day and her body was taken back into Gaza. Her death was confirmed by the IDF on Dec. 15, 2023.
Alatrash, 39, died fighting Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body was also taken back into Gaza. He is survived by two wives and 13 children.
Hamas killed 1,200 people and took another 251 people hostage. Israel has responded with a devastating war that destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure and killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The Palestinian Ministry of Health also states more than 460 people, including 157 children, have died of starvation and malnutrition amid the war.
The health ministry said it has received 90 bodies of “martyrs” from Israel, including 45 on Wednesday, as part of the exchange.
On Monday, when Hamas gave Israel 20 living hostages, Israel returned to Gaza and the occupied West Bank nearly 2,000 detainees.
According to a tally kept by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the bodies of 17 hostages remain in Gaza.
