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The return of the remains of four former captives has spurred anger that more were not retrieved. The devastation to Gaza is likely to make the task especially hard.
Oct. 14, 2025, 7:27 a.m. ET
The Israeli military on Tuesday publicly identified two of the four bodies of former captives in Gaza whose remains were returned to Israel. The announcement added a sorrowful note to the joyful celebrations across the country on Monday after the release of the last 20 living captives held in Gaza.
The military named the two as Guy Illouz and Bipin Joshi. The cease-fire agreement called on Hamas to release on Monday the bodies of the 28 hostages who are believed to have died.
The deal acknowledged that recovering many of the bodies could be difficult, especially because of the widespread devastation in Gaza. The territory was highly urbanized before the war, but two years of Israeli strikes have turned large parts of it into a flattened landscape of cement rubble.
The agreement outlined how the remains could be located and returned if Hamas was unable to do so by Monday. That process would center on the establishment of a joint task force, to include the United States and other mediators, that would share information and help locate the remaining bodies, according to three Israeli officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak publicly.
Israeli officials and some families of the hostages have criticized Hamas for not returning the remains of more of the former hostages.
Israel Katz, the country’s defense minister, accused Hamas of failing “to uphold its commitments.” But he did not say Israel would take immediate military action in response, suggesting that the cease-fire would hold.
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“The urgent task we are all committed to now is ensuring the return of all the bodies of the hostages home,” he said on social media. “Any deliberate delay or refusal will be considered a blatant violation of the agreement and will be met accordingly.”
Gal Hirsch, the coordinator for hostages and missing people in the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reiterated to the families of the hostages whose bodies had not been returned that it was committed to bringing their remains home and applying pressure on Hamas.
“The mission is not yet complete,” he said. “We are absolutely determined and fully committed — we will not stop until all the fallen hostages are located and brought home.”
But that would rely on Hamas to show that they were acting in good faith and committed to returning whatever bodies they could rather than delaying, two of the Israeli officials said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main advocacy group for the hostages and their loved ones, said on Monday that it was “calling for the immediate suspension of all agreement implementation until every deceased individual is returned.”
It said the return of only four bodies was a “violation of the agreement” and said it “must be met with a very serious response from the government and the mediators”
“An agreement must be honored by both sides,” the group said. “If Hamas does not fulfill their part, Israel should not fulfill its part either.”
On Tuesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was assisting with the “dignified” handling of the deceased, including by providing body bags and refrigerated trucks and by deploying personnel to assist the authorities in Israel.
In a statement, it called on Israel, Hamas and the conflict’s international mediator “to ensure the agreement is faithfully applied.”
“Families grieving the loss of their loved ones have already endured unimaginable pain,” the group said. “All parties must ensure that the return of human remains is done under dignified conditions, and uphold dignity and humanity.”
The Israeli officials added that Israel believed that Hamas knew the location of many, but not all, of the bodies. Hamas will need to conduct its own investigation to find some of them, one of the officials said, and will need to speak with other militant factions in Gaza, clear rubble and inspect collapsed tunnels.
In its announcement naming the deceased, the military said the bodies of Mr. Illouz, Mr. Joshi and two other people had been identified by Israel’s National Center for Forensic Medicine, working with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate.
The military declined to publicly identify the other two former hostages because their families had not yet been notified, it said.
Mr. Illouz was kidnapped from the Nova music festival and died in captivity at age 26 after not receiving adequate medical care for injuries he sustained during the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, the military said.
Mr. Joshi, a citizen of Nepal, was killed in captivity in the early months of the war after he was abducted at age 23 from a shelter in Kibbutz Alumim, the military added.
Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
