"503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end. We had hoped and prayed so much for a different outcome," the family said.

The youngest of the hostages, Kfir Bibas, was 9 months old when he was kidnapped along with his brother Ariel, 4, and mother Shiri Silberman Bibas, 32. Hamas also returned the body of one of the oldest hostages, Oded Lifshitz, 85. All were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023.

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz on Thursday.

The four were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz; it is currently unclear how they died.

The Prime Minister’s Office confirms that the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine has finished its identification of slain hostage Oded Lifshitz. It says that the IDF has told Lifshitz’s family that he was murdered in captivity by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Gaza Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has said hostage Oded Lifshitz, whose body was handed over by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday, was killed in captivity by the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Lawyers for the daughter of one of the oldest hostages seized by Hamas fears the release of his remains, reported to be on Thursday, could be used as “a propaganda exercise”. Oded Lifshitz, 84, was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas October 7 2023 attack.