It’s Tuesday, October 28, and the remains that Hamas returned to Israel overnight belong to the body of a hostage that Israeli forces recovered from Gaza in late 2023.
To avoid confusion: when the body, belonging to Ofir Tzarfati, 27, was first recovered from Gaza, some remains were missing. Hamas has now handed over additional remains belonging to Ofir under the guise of them belonging to one of the 13 dead hostages still in Gaza.
But what’s even more disturbing is how Hamas returned Ofir’s remains. According to IDF soldiers who witnessed the scene, Hamas used a tractor to dig a hole, brought the remains from a nearby building and placed it in the hole, covered the remains in dirt, and then called the Red Cross to the scene, where—with the Red Cross’ cameras rolling—Hamas “discovered” Ofir’s remains.
Did Hamas really think it could get away with this? It’s unlikely, and either way, the whole scene was caught on an IDF drone.