Israel said Thursday that it had identified the remains of hostages Amiram Kuper and Sahar Baruch, whose bodies were returned by Hamas earlier in the day.
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A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the families of the deceased men had been informed after “completion of the identification process by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine”.
Militants took 251 people hostage during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.
Sahar Baruch was taken from kibbutz Beeri to Gaza and killed during a failed army rescue operation two months later. He was 25 when he died.
Amiram Kuper, 84 at the time of his abduction, was kidnapped with his wife Nourit Kuper from their home in kibbutz Nir Oz. Israel announced his death in captivity in June 2024.
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Militants have so far returned the remains of 17 of the 28 deceased hostages that Hamas had agreed to hand over as part of a US-brokered truce deal with Israel.
