Ohad Yahalomi is the last Franco-Israeli hostage retained in Gaza. A group close to Hamas announced that its body would be one of the four that will be returned on Thursday.
Ohad Yahalomi would not have survived his captivity over a year in the Gaza Strip. The Al-Nasser Salah Al-Dine brigades, a Palestinian group combined with Hamas, announced that the body of the last Franco-Israeli hostage would be handed over to Israel with three other bodies, Thursday, February 27. The presentation of his body would then confirm his death during his detention in the Gaza Strip.
Ohad Yahalomi was removed on October 7, 2023 in the Kibbutz Nir Oz, at the same time as his son Eitan. Ohad Yahalomi had tried to stop the attack on Hamas and protect his family by placing himself armed in front of the door, but he had shot in the leg. Part of his family had managed to escape, but his 12 -year -old son had also been kidnapped. He was part of the hostages released on November 27, 2023, during the first truce agreement in Gaza. We had not heard from the man, who would be 50 years old today, since then.
A doubt about identifying the remains
Since a body presented as that of Shiri Bibas, but which was ultimately that of another person, has been given to Israel, the Hebrew State and the families of the victims doubt the identity of the remains. On Thursday, February 20, Hamas had given four bodies to the Red Cross, presenting them as those of Oded Lifshitz, 83, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, aged eight months and four years, and that of their mother, Shiri Bibas. But the body presented as that of the latter was not identified, provoking the anger of Israel and the misunderstanding of the Bibas family, whose father had been released a few weeks before. The Hebrew state had claimed the mother’s body, which was given to him the next day and which was identified. This leaves doubt for the families of the victims whose bodies will be given Thursday, February 27, in exchange for the release of nearly 600 prisoners.
The last Franco-Israeli hostage to have been released alive was Ofer Kalderon, released on February 1 after almost 500 days of captivity in the Gaza Strip.