JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Tuesday that the bodies of four hostages returned by Hamas have been identified, including that of a Nepalese student.
In a statement, the military named two of the victims as Guy Iluz, an Israeli national, and Bipin Joshi, an agriculture student from Nepal.
The names of the other two hostages have not yet been released at the request of their families, the statement added.
Iluz, who was 26 at the time of the attack, had been attending the Nova music festival when Hamas-led militants launched their assault on October 7, 2023.
He reportedly tried to flee the site in a jeep and later hid in a tree, from where he made his last contact with his parents before being captured and taken to the Gaza Strip.
The military said Iluz was injured and abducted alive by militants but later died of his injuries due to lack of medical treatment while in captivity.
It did not specify when he actually died, though his death was announced in December 2023.
Iluz had worked as a sound technician for famous Israeli musicians.
Joshi, who was 22 at the time of the attack, was part of a Nepalese agricultural training group that had arrived in Israel three weeks before the Hamas assault.
He was abducted from Kibbutz Alumim and was photographed sheltering with Thai workers shortly before militants reached the area.
“It is assessed that he was murdered in captivity during the first months of the war,” the military said.
‘We will not rest’
Joshi’s Nepalese friend Himanchal Kattel, the group’s only survivor, said that the attackers had thrown a grenade into the shelter, which Joshi caught and threw away before it exploded, saving Kattel’s life.
“The return of Guy and Bipin … brings some measure of comfort to families who have lived with agonizing uncertainty and doubt for over two years,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main Israeli group campaigning for the release of all hostages.
“We will not rest until all 24 hostages are brought home,” it said in a statement.
The four bodies were returned by Hamas on Monday, following the release of all 20 surviving captives as part of a ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump.
Palestinian militants are still holding the bodies of 24 hostages, which are expected to be returned under the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
