The Israeli army announced this Thursday, October 16, that it has identified the bodies of hostages Inbar Hayman and Mohammad al-Atrash, returned to Israel on Wednesday night by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
“After completion of the identification process conducted by the National Institute of Legal Medicine […] Representatives of the Israel Defense Forces informed the families of Inbar Hayman and Sergeant Mohammad al-Atrash that their bodies had been repatriated for burial,” a military statement said.
Inbar Haymana graffiti artist from Haifa known by the pseudonym ‘Pink’, was 27 years old when she was murdered at the Nova music festival. The body was taken to Gaza, along with that of the Sergeant Mohammad al-Atrasha 39-year-old Bedouin soldier killed in combat on October 7, 2023.
Father of 13 children, al-Atrash lived in the village of Mulada, in the Negev desert. The family was informed of his death in June 2024.
“On behalf of all defense services, I express my condolences to the families of Inbar Hayman and Sergeant Mohammad al-Atrash,” wrote Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on the X social network.
“Inbar was kidnapped at the Nova Festival and murdered by Hamas killers on October 7, and Mohammad fell in combat after defending the division’s soldiers with supreme heroism,” Katz added.
“The Israeli government shares the deep pain of the Hayman and al-Atrash families, as well as all the families of the dead hostages,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Hours earlier, the Red Cross had received the two bodies, delivered by Hamas, which said it was unable to locate any more.
The delivery of these two bodies joins the seven bodies of hostages previously handed over by Hamas, after an Israeli forensic institute stated that an eighth body did not correspond to any of the 28 dead hostages.