(MENAFN) Hamas has transferred the bodies of two additional deceased hostages to Israel overnight, bringing the total number of returned remains to nine, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The exchange follows the recent hostage-prisoner deal mediated by the US, Qatar, Egypt, and Türkiye, under which Hamas released the final 20 surviving Israeli captives on Monday in return for the liberation of nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees. The following day, the group handed over seven bodies, though Israeli authorities said one of them was that of a Palestinian national.

The latest two bodies, delivered through the Red Cross late Wednesday, were taken to a forensic facility in Tel Aviv, where they were identified as Inbar Haiman and Muhammad el-Atrash, the IDF said.

Haiman, a 27-year-old student from Haifa, was killed during the October 7, 2023 attack at the Nova music festival. Her body was subsequently taken to Gaza, making her the last female hostage — dead or alive — held in the enclave. El-Atrash, a 39-year-old soldier serving with the Northern Brigade of the IDF’s Gaza Division, was also killed that day, and his remains were abducted by Hamas fighters.

The group said it has fulfilled its part of the truce deal, having freed all surviving hostages and delivered the bodies of those it could locate.

“It requires great effort and special equipment to search for” the remains of the other 19 dead hostages, the statement added. “We are making great efforts to resolve this issue.”

Meanwhile, the office of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Hamas must hand over all 28 remaining bodies, cautioning that “Israel, in coordination with the US, will resume fighting and act to achieve a total defeat of Hamas, to change the reality in Gaza and achieve all the objectives of the war.”

The October 7 incursion by Hamas fighters left about 1,200 people dead and 250 others taken hostage in Israel. In response, the IDF’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed over 67,000 people and wounded nearly 170,000, according to local health officials.

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