Body of Joshua Loitu Mollel returned to Israel after 761 days in Hamas captivity

The remains of Joshua Loitu Mollel, an agricultural intern from Tanzania murdered on 7 October, were returned to Israel by Hamas yesterday evening. 

Mollel’s family were informed, following an identification process by the National Centre of Forensic Medicine, in collaboration with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate.

Joshua was murdered and abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on the morning of 7 October 2023. Aged 21 at the time of his death, he was the eldest brother to four siblings living in Tanzania.

A student on an agricultural training programme who worked in the kibbutz dairy, he had arrived in the country just 19 days before the brutal Hamas attack. On that Saturday morning, he was working the morning shift.

Writing in tribute, The Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel posted: “His family describe him as polite, courteous, incredibly hardworking, with a big smile that never left his face.”

The bodies of six hostages remain in Gaza.