"503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end. We had hoped and prayed so much for a different outcome," the family said.

CAIRO (Reuters) -The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz on Thursday. The group said Lifshitz was one of the hostages killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.

The four were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz; it is currently unclear how they died.

Peace activist Oded Lifshitz, whose body was handed over by Hamas in a grotesque ceremony on Thursday night (AEDT), was murdered in captivity more than a year ago, Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine has confirmed.

The Prime Minister’s Office confirms that the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine has finished its identification of slain hostage Oded Lifshitz. It says that the IDF has told Lifshitz’s family that he was murdered in captivity by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Gaza Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has said hostage Oded Lifshitz, whose body was handed over by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday, was killed in captivity by the Islamic Jihad militant group.