Israel announced Saturday that the latest remains handed over by Hamas via the Red Cross were that of a deceased hostage.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) identified the deceased hostage as Eliyahu Margalit, known by many as “Churchill,” who was murdered during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. It also underscored that “Hamas is required to fulfill its part of the agreement and make the necessary efforts to return all the hostages to their families and to a dignified burial.”

Israel said Margalit was killed at the horse stables in Kibbutz Nir Oz and that his body was then taken into Gaza, where it was held for more than two years. The IDF initially confirmed Margalit’s death in December 2023.

Margalit’s daughter, Nili Margalit, was also taken hostage but was released during the brief November 2023 ceasefire. He leaves behind a wife, three children and grandchildren.

REMAINS OF LAST FEMALE HAMAS HOSTAGE AND IDF SOLDIER HANDED OVER TO ISRAEL

“The government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Margalit family and all the families of the fallen abductees,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “The government and the entire Israeli Public Security Bureau are determined, committed and working tirelessly to return all of our fallen abductees for a proper burial in their country.”

Margalit’s loved ones said he had gone to feed his beloved horses early in the morning on Oct. 7 and that the horses had been taken along with him, according to The Times of Israel. The outlet added that Margalit had been responsible for the kibbutz’s cattle for many years.

“Our beloved Eli has returned home, 742 days after he was murdered and kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. We thank the people of Israel and the Hostage Families Forum for their support in the long struggle for his return, and promise that we will not stop or rest until the last of the hostages is returned for burial in Israel,” the family said in a statement, according to The Times of Israel.

Protesters stand with portraits of Israeli hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Eli Sharabi, Nimron Cohen and others during a demonstration by the families of the hostages taken captive in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, outside the Israeli Prime Minister’s residence in Azza (Gaza) Street in central Jerusalem on Oct. 24, 2024. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)

ISRAEL NAMES TWO OF FOUR DEAD HOSTAGES RETURNED BY HAMAS, HOW THEY DIED

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which was established in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre, expressed condolences to Margalit’s family.

“The families of the hostages and the released embrace the family of Eliyahu ‘Churchill’ Margalit at this difficult time, following the return of their beloved Eliyahu z”l to Israel last night for a proper burial,” the forum wrote. “Alongside the grief and the understanding that their hearts will never be whole again, Eliyahu’s return brings some measure of solace to a family that has lived in unbearable uncertainty and doubt for over two years. We will not rest until all 18 hostages are brought home.”

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers salute Eliyahu Margalit’s coffin, which has been draped in an Israeli flag. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)

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The forum noted that Margalit was “a cowboy at heart” and was linked to an organization known as “Riders of the South,” which has been bringing horseback riding enthusiasts together for more than 50 years.

Margalit is the 10th deceased hostage to be returned to Israel, while the remains of 18 others are still in Gaza. Two of the deceased hostages whose bodies have not been returned are Itay Chen, 19, and Omer Neutra, 21, both of whom were U.S. citizens.

Polish border guard officers discovered a tunnel connecting the Belarusian side of the border with Poland on Friday. Warsaw’s Minister of Interior and Administration Marcin Kierwiński provided information about the revealed tunnel in a post on social media platform X.

“Officers of the [Podlaskie Border Guard – ed.] discovered a tunnel under the barrier on the Polish-Belarusian border. The tunnel started and ended about 20 meters from the border on the side. Thanks to advanced electronic systems on the barrier, the Polish-Belarusian border is effectively protected!” wrote the head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration.

This is the second tunnel dug under the Polish-Belarusian border that has been discovered this year. The first one was located in the area of the Border Guard Station in Narewka.

Both tunnels were detected using “advanced electronic systems” recently installed in the area, according to local officials.

In July, a significant section of the Polish-Belarusian border was modernised, installing the most advanced and modern thermal cameras.

The Podlaskie Border Guard also reported that more than 60 attempts to illegally cross the Polish-Belarusian border were recorded on Thursday.

26,700 illegal border crossing attempts since January

Since January 2025, Border Guard officers have recorded over 26,700 attempts to illegally cross this border.

The Polish-Belarusian border has been at the centre of a migration and humanitarian crisis on the eastern flank of the European Union since 2021.

The government claims this is part of a broader “hybrid warfare” strategy aimed at destabilising the region.

Poland and its allies have accused the Belarusian government of provoking the crisis by bringing migrants from the Middle East and Africa to Belarus and transporting them to the Polish border.

For years, Poland has faced criticism from human rights organisations for its response to illegal border crossing attempts. These critics particularly highlighted the alleged use of the “pushback” method to send migrants back to Belarus without allowing them to apply for asylum.

FIRST ON FOX: As a senior Hamas official defended the group’s crackdown on Palestinians in Gaza on Friday in an interview with Reuters, a Gazan lawyer in hiding from the terrorists warned that the killings of the group’s critics are continuing. 

In an exclusive interview from Gaza, Moumen Al-Natour, a lawyer, former Hamas political prisoner and president of Palestinian Youth for Development, said Hamas resurfaced from underground tunnels after the ceasefire. “After the fire stopped, Hamas fighters came out of the tunnels and massacred families that opposed them,” he said. “They are sending a signal that they are back — by terrorizing people.”

In defending the executions, the Hamas terrorist official, Mohammed Nazzal, told Reuters on Friday that there were always “exceptional measures” during the war and those executed were criminals guilty of killing.

HAMAS ACCEPTS TRUMP PEACE PLAN ENDING 2 YEARS OF WAR IN GAZA, RETURNING HOSTAGES

On Thursday, President Donald Trump issued a warning on Truth Social after footage circulated online showing Hamas fighters executing Palestinians in Gaza City’s main square. “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” he wrote.

According to Reuters, at least 33 people were executed by Hamas in recent days in what officials described as a campaign to “show strength” after the ceasefire. Israeli sources say most of those killed belonged to families accused of collaborating with Israel or supporting rival militias.

Al-Natour, the co-founder of the “We Want To Live Movement,” said several local militias are still resisting the group across Gaza. In Rafah, the Abu Shabab clan has drawn attention for recruiting fighters and resisting Hamas’s control. In Gaza City, the Doghmush clan has clashed repeatedly with Hamas terrorists. In Khan Younis, the Mujaida clan has also been involved in armed confrontations. 

Some members tied to the Hellis network in Gaza City are operating in neighborhoods under tension with Hamas. These factions do not hold stable territory, but their sporadic resistance — from raids to armed standoffs — signals the first cracks in Hamas’s grip.

In this still from a verified social media video confirmed to Reuters by a Hamas source, seven men are forced to their knees and shot from behind by Hamas terrorists during public executions in Gaza on Oct. 14, 2025. (Reuters)

“These militias come from the population,” Al-Natour said. “They need recognition and coordination to form a political umbrella — a transitional body that governs these areas and organizes their security.”

BBC REPORT FINDS GAZA DOCUMENTARY NARRATED BY HAMAS TERRORIST’S SON BREACHED EDITORIAL STANDARDS

He said he and others are trying to operate under what he called Trump’s peace framework, forming safe zones inside Gaza where civilians unaffiliated with Hamas can access food, aid, and protection. “We can build a governing body in these zones,” he said. “But those of us who speak out are hunted. The people Hamas is killing now are just like me — Palestinians who dared to speak.”

Joseph Braude, president of the Center for Peace Communications, said Hamas is using the post-war lull to settle old scores. “It’s a dark time for Hamas’s many opponents in Gaza,” he told Fox News Digital. “They’re exploiting this moment to reassert dominance through brute force. They killed a pregnant woman about 18 hours ago. It is indiscriminate killing designed simply to sow fear in ordinary people”

His organization released a video on X featuring an interview with a Gazan who described how Hamas killed a 5-year-old child as part of its campaign against opponents.

TRUMP UNVEILS 20-POINT PLAN TO SECURE PEACE IN GAZA, INCLUDING GRANTING SOME HAMAS MEMBERS ‘AMNESTY’

Braude described Gaza’s reality as bifurcated. Reconstruction, he explained, could begin in the areas behind the yellow line — territory now under Israeli supervision — while fighting continues elsewhere. “This is the scenario envisioned in the 20-point plan,” he said. “Gazans opposed to Hamas, including those who have taken up arms in that struggle, can help form enclaves of self-rule that evolve into a transitional authority with international support.”

He predicted that a coalition of anti-Hamas militias, supported by air cover from Israel and possibly private contractors, will carry out the remaining ground battles. “There is no conceptual return to the pre-Oct. 7 approach,” he added.

A military parade of the Hamas terrorist organization before the transfer of four Israeli female hostages to the Red Cross on January 25th, 2025. (TPS-IL)

Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University and a former IDF intelligence officer, said Hamas has seized the clans’ weapons and money, much of it originating from Israel, drawing parallels to Hezbollah’s takeover of southern Lebanon in 2000. “This leaves Israel in a dilemma,” he warned. “If the Israeli military ends up protecting these clans, we risk starting another war with Hamas. If we abandon them, we may have to absorb them later, like the allies we evacuated from Lebanon.”

He called the initiative “a tragic example of acting without understanding Gaza’s reality.”

Gazans who spoke anonymously to Fox News Digital described chaos and fear. One man said “gangs are in the streets” and warned that another internal war could erupt. Another said, “No one knows who will rule or what will happen next. We just want to live without bloodshed.”

Trump’s team has framed the Gaza ceasefire as the foundation for lasting peace. But with executions, clan wars, and new militias emerging, officials and residents alike say the post-war phase may test whether that peace can hold — or whether Gaza is entering yet another cycle of terror and revenge.

 Reuters contributed to this report.