Military representatives notified the family of Staff Sgt. Itay Chen that his body was returned to Israel by Hamas on Tuesday night, following the completion of identification efforts by forensic experts.

Chen, 19, served in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion and was killed while battling Hamas terrorists in his tank during the morning of October 7, 2023, in the Nahal Oz area. His body was then abducted to the Strip, along with other members of his crew.

He was the last remaining slain hostage held in the Gaza Strip with American citizenship. The remains of seven other slain hostages are still in Gaza.

According to a Hamas statement, Chen’s body was recovered earlier Tuesday during excavations in Gaza City’s eastern Shejaiya neighborhood, which is over the Yellow Line demarcating the military’s withdrawal, meaning in an Israeli-held area of the Strip.

The terror group transferred the casket in the evening to representatives from the Red Cross in Gaza City, who then escorted the remains to IDF troops inside the Strip.

The IDF inspected the casket, draped it in an Israeli flag and held a short ceremony led by a military rabbi, before taking it out of the Strip.

Chen’s body was escorted by police to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification. Hamas has, in the past, transferred remains that did not belong to a hostage.

Chen was killed alongside fellow tank crew members Sgt. Tomer Leibovitz and Cpt. Daniel Perez, and his body was abducted together with Perez’s.

Perez’s remains were returned last month, and the tank crew’s fourth member, Matan Angrest, who was abducted alive, was released on the same day.

Speaking at Perez’s funeral, Angrest promised to keep fighting for Chen’s return and even said he was “ready to go into Gaza right now and bring him back.”

On Wednesday, Angrest eulogized his slain comrade.

“I never stopped thinking of you,” he wrote on Instagram. “You’re finally back, my brother.”

The family of Chen, a US national, has been among the most outspoken proponents for the families of hostages and decided not to sit shiva for him until he was returned and laid to rest.

“[After] 760 days,........

© The Times of Israel