The 61-year-old was killed while attempting to defend Nir Yitzhak kibbutz during the Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group, according to the military. PIJ said the body was found on Friday in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. Hamas has now returned all 20 living hostages and 23 out of 28 deceased hostages under the first phase of a ceasefire deal that began on 10 October. Of the five dead hostages still in Gaza, four are Israeli and one is Thai.

Israel has criticised Hamas for failing to return all the bodies, while Hamas says it is difficult to locate them beneath the rubble. PIJ, an armed group allied with Hamas, took part in the 7 October attack and has previously held Israeli hostages. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a campaign group, welcomed the return. “Lior’s return provides some measure of comfort to a family that has lived with agonising uncertainty and doubt for over two years,” it said in a statement. “We will not rest until the last hostage is brought home.”

During the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners from its jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza. Israel also handed over the bodies of 285 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of 19 Israeli hostages returned by Hamas, along with those of three foreign hostages — one Thai, one Nepalese and one Tanzanian. BBC)