Israel on Friday identified the body of a hostage released from Gaza as Meny Godard, a 73-year-old who was killed during the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023. The return of his body brings the number of deceased hostages still in Gaza to three.
The bodies of 25 others have now been released as part of a ceasefire and hostages-for-prisoners exchange deal between Israel and Hamas that began in mid-October. Under the same agreement, Israel has returned the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel on Friday identified the body of a hostage released from Gaza as Meny Godard, a 73-year-old who was killed during the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023. The return of his body brings the number of deceased hostages still in Gaza to three.
The bodies of 25 others have now been released as part of a ceasefire and hostages-for-prisoners exchange deal between Israel and Hamas that began in mid-October. Under the same agreement, Israel has returned the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Hamas has said the group is committed to locating the remains of the other hostages still in Gaza despite the widespread destruction in the enclave.
The announcement comes amid an ongoing disagreement between the U.S. and Israeli officials over the fate of as many as 200 Hamas fighters stranded inside an area of Gaza still occupied by Israeli forces.
Here’s what to know about the deceased hostages whose bodies have been returned and those that remain in Gaza. Their ages, where available, are correct at the time of the Oct. 7 attacks.
Illouz was at the Nova music festival with friends when Hamas attacked. His friends were shot dead while Illouz was severely wounded and taken captive, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many hostages’ relatives. Maya Regev, a hostage freed in November 2023, said she and Illouz were treated together in a Gazan hospital where he died of his wounds. Illouz’s father, Michel, told The Washington Post that he was preparing to bury his son, adding: “I’m so happy for the families of the hostages that are alive, that they will be able to recover, and I’m sad about my journey.”
Joshi, from Nepal, was among a group of Nepali students studying agriculture at Kibbutz Alumim, near Gaza, when the Hamas attack began, according to the Associated Press.
In early October, Joshi’s family released footage believed to have been filmed in November 2023 that showed him in captivity. According to the hostages forum, it was the only sign of life his family had received since his abduction.
Peretz was a captain in the Israeli army’s 7th Armored Brigade. The army said in early 2024 that he was killed on Oct. 7, 2023.
Sharabi and younger brother Eli were taken captive from Kibbutz Beeri, where more than 130 people died in Hamas’s attacks. Yossi’s wife and their two daughters survived the attacks, the hostages forum said. Eli, whose wife and daughters were killed in the attacks, was released during a previous ceasefire earlier this year. The Israeli military later said Yossi was probably killed when an Israeli strike hit a building adjacent to where he and two other hostages were being held, Israeli media reported.
The husband and father of two was one of the first to escape the Nova music festival after the Hamas attack began, the hostages forum said. Baruch’s family heard him telling a friend to drive faster, saying, “They are chasing us,” before the call was disconnected, the forum said. The Israeli government said he died in captivity, while the Times of Israel reported that his family was told that he was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body taken into Gaza.
Nimrodi, an Israeli soldier and German dual national, was abducted from a main crossing between Israel and Gaza, according to the Associated Press. Two other soldiers abducted with Nimrodi were killed. The family had held out hope he could still be alive until his body was identified.
Levi, a taxi driver, was killed at the Nova music festival, and his body was taken to Gaza, the Israeli government said. The hostages forum described him as “a warm and loving family man” whose “great loves were his only son Shahar and his two dogs.”
Atrash, a sergeant major in the Israeli military, was killed in fighting on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body taken into Gaza, according to the Israeli government.
Hayman, an art student, was abducted from the Nova music festival and had been the only female hostage still in Gaza. The Israeli government says she was killed in Hamas captivity.
Margalit was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, near the stables in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he lived with his wife, Dafna, and had worked raising cattle. Dafna’s daughter, Nili, was taken captive during the attack and released in November 2023. Dafna has since returned to the kibbutz. “Many people ask me, ‘Why would you go back there?’” she told The Post. She said she wanted to move back as quickly as possible, adding: “I realized this would be my last home.”
Engel and his family were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, according to the hostages forum. His wife, Karina Engel-Barret, and two daughters, Mika and Yuval, were freed as part of a ceasefire deal in November 2023; the Israeli government informed them days later that Ronen had been killed in captivity.
Sonthaya, a Thai agricultural employee, had worked in Israel for five years, his mother told the Thai newspaper the National after his death was confirmed last year. According to the Israeli government, he was killed on Oct. 7, 2023 — one of several dozen Thai nationals killed during the attack.
Haimi was killed fighting Hamas militants Oct. 7, 2023, as part of the security team for Nir Yitzhak, a kibbutz near Gaza where he lived with his wife and children. His youngest child, Lotan, was born after his death. After learning of Haimi’s death, the family held a funeral for him at a temporary grave in another kibbutz, but his wife, Ella, told The Post this year that she wanted him “to be brought back and buried here. Only then can we say that we are beginning a new life.”
Zalmanowicz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity, the Israeli government said. He died after not receiving medications he relied upon and barely eating, the hostages forum said, citing remarks by freed hostages.
Adar was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he fought alongside the kibbutz’s security squad during the Hamas attacks, according to the hostages forum. His wife and two young children survived by hiding in the safe room of their home, the forum said. The Israeli government later confirmed he was killed on Oct. 7, 2023.
Baruch was abducted from Kibbutz Beeri. According to the hostages forum, he returned from an around-the-world trip to study electrical engineering. In January 2024, Israel’s military said he was killed during a rescue attempt the previous month, adding: “At this point, it is not possible to determine the circumstances of Sahar’s death, and it is not known whether he was murdered by Hamas or killed by our forces’ fire.”
Cooper and his wife, Nurit, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, which he helped found in the 1950s. Nurit was freed just over two weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks, but the Israeli military said in June last year that Amiram was killed in captivity.
Hamami, a colonel and commander in the Israeli military, was killed during fighting on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body was taken into Gaza, according to the Israeli government.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that when Hamami was appointed as a commander of the Southern Brigade of the Gaza Division, he said at the ceremony that he “accept[ed] with pride and tremendous responsibility the command of the brigade.”
Neutra, an American-Israeli dual national, was a tank commander and trainer in the Israeli military. He was raised on Long Island. He came to Israel for a gap year before college, and chose to stay and enlist as a soldier, his grandmother Tamar Tzohar told The Post. In Israel, “he fit in instantly. One of the most moving things for me was that people didn’t even realize he hadn’t been born in Israel,” she said.
The Israeli military said in December 2024 that he was killed on the day of the attacks and that his body was taken into Gaza. Tzohar told The Post that she had mixed feelings on the morning his body was returned to Israel. “On one hand, the pain is still immense, knowing we won’t be able to accompany Omer through the rest of his life. But on the other hand, there is a sense of relief,” she said.
Oz, a sergeant in the Israeli army’s 7th Armored Brigade, was killed in fighting on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body was taken into Gaza. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said he was a gifted guitar player and was “everyone’s best friend.”
Chen was the last American dual national whose body was held in Gaza.
Chen, an Israeli soldier, was based at a military outpost less than a mile from the Gaza border on Oct. 7, 2023. Five months later, Israel confirmed he was killed during the attack, and his body was taken into Gaza. “My heart is broken,” his mother, Hagit Chen, said in a media statement after his body was returned in early November. “There is no joy in laying your child to rest, but there is relief and there is peace for the soul. Mine and his.”
Chen’s father, Ruby, said the family could now hold a funeral for their son and observe Jewish mourning rites. “This was most probably the least worst option, and now we need to start understanding how to live this new chapter of life,” he told The Post. “You know, with this understanding of being whole again as a family, but in a different way than we wanted.”
Mollel, an agricultural student from Tanzania, arrived in Israel 19 days before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks to gain practical farming experience. He was killed at the dairy of Kibbutz Nahal Oz and his body taken into Gaza, according to the Hostages Forum.
Rudaeff, a father and grandfather, was born in Argentina and lived in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, according to the hostages forum. His family was told in May 2024 that he died during the Hamas attack. He volunteered for four decades as an ambulance driver, the forum said. “He always volunteered first and extended a helping hand to everyone.”
Goldin, an Israeli soldier, was killed in 2014 during the Israeli military’s “Operation Protective Edge” in Gaza, where his body remained. Reservists from Goldin’s former platoon accompanied Goldin’s body on “his journey home, for burial,” former spokesman for Israel Eylon Levy said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that for 11 years, he kept the image of Goldin on his desk and “his memory has remained etched in my heart throughout.”
Godard and his wife, Ayelet, were both killed in their home of Kibbutz Beeri; Godard’s body was taken to Gaza. The hostage forum described the father and grandfather, who had worked as a lifeguard, as “an excellent soccer player.” The Israeli military said Godard was killed by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.
Below are the stories of people whose bodies remain in Gaza.
Gvili, a police officer in the Negev region, was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza, Israeli authorities said.
Or lived in Kibbutz Beeri with his family. His wife was killed in the Hamas attacks, while two of their three children were taken hostage and released the following month, the Times of Israel reported. Or was initially believed to be alive in captivity, but the Israeli military later confirmed that he was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and that his body was taken to Gaza.
Sudthisak, another Thai national, worked at Kibbutz Beeri. Last year, the Israeli government confirmed that he was killed during the Oct. 7 attack. His father told Thailand’s Nation newspaper last year that he hoped his son’s remains would be returned so that the family could carry out funeral rites.
Heidi Levine, Shira Rubin, Leo Sands, Joanna Slater, Lior Soroka and Sammy Westfall contributed to this report.
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