Cousin of a Hamas hostage who died fears the cease-fire will collapse before he gets his relative's remains
Paulina Patimer; Courtesy of the Hostages Families Forum
- Tal Chaimi was abducted on October 7, 2023. His body is being held in Gaza.
- Udi Goren, his cousin, is campaigning for his remains to be repatriated to Israel.
- But Goren fears the cease-fire deal may not last long enough to bring them back.
The cousin of an Israeli hostage who was abducted and killed and whose body is being held in Gaza said he is fearful that the cease-fire deal may not last long enough to ensure the return of his relative's remains.
"This is not the end of the road," Udi Goren, the cousin of Tal Chaimi, said in a call with reporters from outlets including BI.
Chaimi was among the 251 people kidnapped from Israel and taken to the Gaza Strip during the October 7, 2023, terror attack.
Chaimi, a civil engineer, was defending Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak when he was abducted. His wife was two months pregnant with their fourth child at the time.
Initially listed as missing, Israeli authorities confirmed months later that Chaimi had been killed and his body was being kept hostage.
Hamas and its allies still hold 98 hostages, an Israeli government spokesperson said Tuesday, though at least 34 of them are believed to be dead.
On Wednesday, the White House announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement on a cease-fire intended to halt the fighting in Gaza — which has killed tens of thousands.
The agreement would facilitate the release of some of the remaining hostages, though it hit a roadblock on Thursday over its ratification, with Israel saying Hamas had created a last-minute crisis.
The deal, structured in phases, is expected to include the release of 33 hostages in the first stage, the majority of them women, children, older people, and those who are sick.
"My cousin Tal is not going to be among these 33," Goren said.
The second phase would see the release of the remaining living hostages, and the third phase would see the remains of dead hostages, including Chaimi, returned to their families.
However, reaching that final phase will be challenging.
"Everything can go wrong along the way," Goren said. "Not just that the deal might actually fall through, with the implementation of each step, but also moving from one step to another."
Goren said that the last couple of days have been incredibly stressful, and that his family has found themselves in a "whirlwind of emotions" — excited for families who may soon be reunited with their abducted relatives, but nervous about the prospect of Chaimi's return.
He said he has concerns about whether Hamas might, for example, say they can't locate his cousin's body.
"This is just the beginning of a new phase of our struggle," he added. "The fact that this is going to take so long, it's going to be excruciating."