Phoenix 24
When war pauses for a moment, silence does not bring peace – only the confirmation of a loss that was already understood.
Jerusalem, October 2025.
The Israeli government has confirmed the identity of Eliyahu Margalit, a 75-year-old citizen abducted during the October 7, 2023 attacks, whose body was returned by Hamas under the fragile cease-fire currently in place. The handover, coordinated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, ends more than two years of uncertainty for his family and adds new strain to the ongoing negotiations between Israel and the Islamist movement.
Military sources reported that Margalit was killed at Kibbutz Nir Oz in the opening moments of the assault and later taken into Gaza, where his remains were held until their recovery. Identification was confirmed by Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine and relayed to his relatives by the Defense Forces’ Missing Persons Unit.
The return takes place as the cease-fire wavers. In less than three weeks, Hamas has delivered the bodies of ten hostages and released several surviving captives through mediation led by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States. Each exchange has become a symbolic transaction in which humanity and politics approach one another without ever truly meeting.
An army spokesperson stated that dozens of hostages – both living and deceased – remain unaccounted for, accusing Hamas of weaponizing uncertainty. Analysts at the Tel Aviv Center for Security Studies describe the pattern as “asymmetric negotiation”: the power of silence confronting the desperation of a state bound by the promise not to abandon its own.
From Cairo, diplomatic officials confirmed that mediation efforts aim to preserve the humanitarian corridor enabling fuel, food, and medicine to enter Gaza. Yet the cease-fire’s survival now depends on verifiable gestures, and the return of human remains has become the only measurable sign of progress.
Meanwhile, the International Humanitarian Law Center in Geneva reminded all parties that the restitution of bodies is a legal obligation under the Geneva Conventions, not a political favor. The fact that each return is celebrated as either victory or concession reveals how deep the moral fracture of this conflict has become.
Across Europe, the Council on Foreign Relations assessed that the unresolved fate of both living and deceased hostages continues to shape any effort toward regional normalization. For Western mediators, Margalit’s case represents both an individual tragedy and a structural stalemate: neither the war has ended nor diplomacy has prevailed.
The arrival of his body provoked a wave of national mourning. In Jerusalem, hundreds gathered by candlelight at the Western Wall – a vigil that merged grief, faith, and exhaustion. The Prime Minister vowed that “Israel will not rest until everyone is brought home,” as sirens echoed across the city, a reminder that the cease-fire remains a fragile parenthesis rather than peace itself.
With every body returned comes not just confirmation of death but the echo of a collective vow: no citizen will be forgotten. Yet the question lingers – how many times can a nation complete mourning without ever ending its war?
Every silence speaks. / Cada silencio habla.