Tel Aviv, Oct 19, (dpa/GNA) – Israel has so far identified one of the two bodies, returned over the weekend by Hamas, as a father of three who was killed by the Palestinian Islamist militia while defending his family, and whose body was then taken to Gaza.
“Ronen Tommy Engel was killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7th, 2023, when he went out to defend his family from terrorists, and his body was taken into the Gaza Strip,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on its Telegram channel on Sunday.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Engel, 54, was a photographer.
He was from the kibbutz Nir Oz near the Israeli border with Gaza. Hamas abducted his wife and two daughters during the attack, which devastated the kibbutz, and took them to Gaza. They were released as part of a hostage agreement in November 2023.
Engel was pronounced dead on December 1, 2023, but Hamas held his body until the recent agreement that resulted in a ceasefire, a return of the Israeli hostages and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
A second body released with Engel’s has been identified, according to Israeli media reports, but not yet been named. That leaves 16 of the original 28 bodies that Hamas agreed to handover in the current ceasefire agreement still in Gaza
Hamas claims that it is difficult to find the bodies because they are buried under the rubble of bombed buildings and tunnels, which were destroyed during the two-year war in Gaza.
The group released the last 20 living hostages on Monday.
GNA