Hamas Hostages Released to Israel ID’d as 84-year-Old Economist and Poet, 24-Year-Old Student; Israel Accuses Hamas of Playing a Macabre Game With Hostage Bodies

Hamas hostages released to Israel ID’d as 84-year-old economist and poet, 24-year-old student:

Hamas released the bodies of two captives on Thursday as the tenuous cease-fire with Israel holds following a week of conflict and failed hostage exchanges.

The Israel Defense Forces received two caskets carrying the bodies from the Red Cross, with the remains taken to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv for identification, the Israeli military said.

While initial reports said the process could take up to two days, the hostages were later identified as Amiram Cooper, 84, and Sahar Baruch, 25, the Times of Israel reported.

Cooper and his wife, Nurit, were kidnapped from their Kibbutz Nir Oz home by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, and he was killed in captivity in February 2024, with the IDF confirming his death in June 2024, the outlet said.

While his wife was freed later that October, Cooper — an economist, poet and composer who was one of the kibbutz’s four founders — was killed in captivity in February 2024, with the IDF confirming his death in June 2024, the outlet said.

Engineering student Baruch was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri and killed two months later during a failed rescue mission, the IDF said, adding that its “final conclusions” on their slayings would be revealed after the forensic exams, per TOI.

It’s the first exchange to take place after Hamas delivered the partial remains of a slain hostage earlier this week, which belonged to a captive who was already recovered in 2023, prompting the cease-fire to nearly fall apart as Israel launched extensive airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. --->READ MORE HERE

Israel Accuses Hamas of Playing a Macabre Game With Hostage Bodies

Delays and an alleged ruse are seen as tactics to gain time as the militant group tries to reassert control over Gaza

Israel and the Red Cross accused Hamas of staging the recovery of a hostage’s body this week, the latest in a string of incidents straining a cease-fire that the Trump administration is trying to hold together.

Israel on Tuesday released what it said was drone footage showing Hamas tossing a body wrapped in white out of a window, burying it, and then using an excavator to unearth it in front of Red Cross representatives.

Israel said the remains belonged to Ofir Tzarfati, a 27-year-old hostage who died shortly after being wounded in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, according to his family. His body was partially recovered two years ago by Israel’s military.

Israel accused Hamas of a macabre manipulation that violated the terms of the cease-fire. The Red Cross criticized the U.S.-designated terrorist group for involving it in an apparent ruse.

“It is unacceptable that a fake recovery was staged, when so much depends on this agreement being upheld and when so many families are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones,” the humanitarian agency said.

Hamas said it is abiding by the terms of the cease-fire deal and that Israel’s claims were an attempt to create a pretext to restart the war. Israel said it launched strikes against dozens of Hamas assets and targeted 30 militants Tuesday after one of its soldiers was killed in Gaza. Health authorities in Gaza said more than 100 people were killed, including children.

Israel said it returned to the cease-fire on Wednesday but later said it had struck Hamas targets in northern Gaza.

Israeli officials believe Hamas is deliberately delaying the return of hostages’ bodies to gain time to consolidate power and reassert control over the battered enclave. Since the declaration of the cease-fire more than two weeks ago, Hamas has cracked down on its opponents within the Gaza Strip, including carrying out public executions of members of a rival clan.

“Hamas’s strategy is to drag this out as long as possible without breaking the cease-fire and entering into direct clashes with [President] Trump and the U.S. and the mediating countries,” said Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israeli military intelligence who is close to Israel’s military establishment. “The method of buying time is trickling these bodies back under the excuse they are searching for them.” --->READ MORE HERE or HERE

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