On Thursday, Israeli authorities announced that the Red Cross had informed them about the transfer of “two coffins of deceased hostages” into their care, which are currently being transported to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel stationed in the Gaza Strip.

Emphasizing the urgency of the situation, the IDF reiterated its call for Hamas to return the remains of all deceased hostages.

Earlier the same day, Israel disclosed receiving information that the Red Cross was en route to a designated location in central Gaza to collect coffins containing the bodies of hostages from Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed the transport of the coffins to Israel, stating, “All families of the hostages have been informed, and we stand with them in this challenging time. The mission to bring our hostages back continues relentlessly until every last one is home.”

Netanyahu’s office also assured that updates would be provided “as necessary.”

Red Cross vehicles arrive to receive from Hamas terrorists the bodies of deceased hostages who had been held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-for-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, Oct. 14, 2025. (Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)

On Tuesday, Fox News learned that a coffin handed over to Israel was assessed to contain the remains of a hostage whose body was already brought back to Israel for burial. The remains were later determined to be those of Ofir Tzarfati, whose body was first recovered in 2023.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that some of Tzarfati’s remains were returned in March 2024 and that in August 2024, Hamas published a photo of his body.

“This is the third time we have been forced to open Ofir’s grave and rebury our son,” Tzarfati’s family said in a statement. “The circle supposedly ‘closed’ back in December 2023, but it never truly closes. Since then, we have lived with a wound that constantly reopens, between memory and longing, between bereavement and mission.”

The kidnapped poster of Ofir Tzarfati, who was recently declared killed and kidnapped, is seen at a memorial display of photos of people killed during Hamas’s attack on the Super Nova festival at the site on Nov. 30, 2023 in Re’im, Israel.  (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

If the two coffins are confirmed to remain deceased hostages, there will still be another 11 whose remains are still in Gaza, possibly including two U.S. citizens, Itay Chen and Omer Neutra. So far, Israel has received the remains of 15 of the 28 deceased hostages.

The hostages whose remains have been returned include Aryeh Zalmanovich, Master Sergeant (Res.) Tamir Adar, Staff Sgt. Tal Haimi, Suntaya Akrasi, Ronen Tommy Engel, Eliyahu Margalit, Uriel Baruch, Staff Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi, Eitan Levi, Daniel Peretz, Yossi Sharabi, Guy Illuz, Bipin Joshi, Inbar Hayman and Sergeant Major Muhammad Al-Atresh.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.