Israel has identified the body returned by Hamas as 73-year-old Meny Godard, killed during the 7 October attack on kibbutz Be'eri. Red Cross teams recovered the remains after Hamas and Islamic Jihad said the body was found in Khan Younis, and forensic tests confirmed the identification. The return falls under a US-brokered ceasefire deal that secured 20 living and 28 deceased hostages, though three deceased remain in Gaza. Slow returns have delayed the next phase of the ceasefire plan, which aims to address governance, troop withdrawal, disarmament and reconstruction.
Israel Identifies Returned Body as Meny Godard, 73 — Forensic Tests Confirm Death in 7 October Attack
Israel has identified the body returned by Hamas as 73-year-old Meny Godard, killed during the 7 October attack on kibbutz Be'eri. Red Cross teams recovered the remains after Hamas and Islamic Jihad said the body was found in Khan Younis, and forensic tests confirmed the identification. The return falls under a US-brokered ceasefire deal that secured 20 living and 28 deceased hostages, though three deceased remain in Gaza. Slow returns have delayed the next phase of the ceasefire plan, which aims to address governance, troop withdrawal, disarmament and reconstruction.
12:54 PM, 11/14/2025Conflict
Israel confirms identity of returned remains
Israel has confirmed that the body returned by Hamas on Thursday was that of Meny Godard, 73, who was killed during the 7 October attacks. Red Cross vehicles collected the remains after Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad said the body had been located in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza.
The Israeli prime minister's office said forensic testing verified the identity of the remains. Godard was killed alongside his wife, Ayelet, during Hamas's raid on kibbutz Be'eri on 7 October 2023.
Ceasefire exchange and remaining cases
The return comes under the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire arrangement intended to help end the Gaza war. Under that deal, Hamas agreed to hand over 20 living hostages and 28 deceased individuals who had remained in its custody. Israeli officials say three of the 28 deceased remain in Gaza — two Israeli and one Thai.
All living Israeli hostages were released on 13 October in an exchange that saw the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,718 detainees from Gaza. For each dead Israeli returned, Israel has agreed to transfer the remains of 15 Palestinians back to Palestinian authorities; identification of those remains is complicated because Gaza currently lacks DNA-testing capacity.
Wider context
Hamas seized 251 hostages during its 7 October 2023 assault in southern Israel, an attack that Israeli authorities say killed about 1,200 people. Israel's subsequent military campaign has caused extensive Palestinian casualties; the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reports more than 69,000 deaths, a figure the United Nations regards as a reliable estimate.
Israel accuses Hamas of delaying recovery of hostages' bodies, while Hamas says it is struggling to locate remains under rubble from intense bombardment. The slow pace of returns has delayed progress toward the next phase of the ceasefire plan, which was to address governance in Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, Hamas disarmament and large-scale reconstruction.
The discovery and forensic identification of Godard's remains highlight both the human cost of the conflict and the practical challenges—legal, forensic and diplomatic—facing efforts to move from a temporary ceasefire to a longer-term resolution.