Nov. 6 (UPI) — Israeli forensics specialists on Thursday identified the remains of Joshua Lolitu Mollel, a Tanzanian student whose remains were returned from Gaza this week more than two years after he was killed during Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces said officials notified Mollel’s family that his body had been returned for burial Wednesday as part of a fragile cease-fire agreement for Gaza to return the bodies of all those killed and abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
“The IDF expresses deep condolences to the family and continues to make every effort to return all the deceased hostages and is prepared for the continued implementation of the agreement,” a release from the IDF said.
The IDF said Hamas militants kidnapped Mollel, who was 21, from a cowshed where he worked in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The militants allegedly killed him and took his body to the Gaza Strip.
The IDF said it confirmed Mollel’s death Dec. 13, 2023.
Mollel was a Tanzanian national who had traveled to Israel a month before his death to study agriculture at the Ibim Agricultural Campus.
In early October, a U.S.-brokered cease-fire between Hamas and Israel saw the former agree to return 20 living and 28 dead hostages who had been taken to Gaza in 2023. The return of Mollel’s remains leaves six bodies in Gaza that have yet to be returned — five Israelis and one Thai national, the BBC reported.
Hamas said it has been searching for the remains of the dead amid the damage and rubble across Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of delaying the process and returning the wrong remains.
Unnamed Israel sources told CNN that Israeli officials believe they also have information about the location of the remains of Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. The sources said the remains were likely in Rafah.
