Funerals have begun for dead Israelis returned from Gaza in the ceasefire and hostage exchange deal, as the nation receives the remains of two more former captives.
The coffins carrying the latest remains to be returned were transferred by the Red Cross from Hamas on Wednesday night, local time, and sent to a forensic lab in Tel Aviv.
The Israeli military warned in a statement that the hostages' identities were yet to be verified.
The first funeral to be held was that of 26-year-old Guy Illouz, a sound technician who was abducted by Hamas while working at the Nova music festival — the scene of one of the deadliest massacres on October 7, 2023.
His body was returned on Monday.
Mr Illouz's family has known for two years he was dead, after a freed hostage reported seeing him in a Gaza hospital, chained to a bed and suffering from untreated injuries.
Hundreds lined the roads near Israel's national forensics centre on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, as well as at the cemetery where he was laid to rest in Ra'anana, north of the city.
Mr Illouz's family, led by father Michel, embraced outside the cemetery gates as they followed the van carrying his casket, draped in an Israeli flag.
He delivered an emotional eulogy, saying he had seen his son's body before leaving the morgue earlier in the day.
"I kept my promise and looked at you," Michel Illouz said.
"I smelled you, smelled you for the last time, and yes, I kissed your forehead, and saw your beauty even in the state you came back to us in. I saw that beauty.
"My Guy, I love you so much, love you so much. You will be missing from my life every second and minute."
Before the funeral, family friend Zvika Tamari told the ABC that Guy was a "delicate boy, and a true natural spirit".
"He was a sound technician for one of the best rock bands in Israel, which I love personally," Mr Tamari said.
"But through them, he grew up to be a sound man of other groups and talented musicians, and he developed his own music.
"And I think it was very interesting for him to go down to the Nova party to study how you do sound in a large, open space."
He added that there were mixed emotions, given the Illouz family had known of their son's fate for almost two years.
"It's very difficult — on one hand, it is a closure of a circle, which both his parents needed, to know that they've done anything to bring him back, even for a grave," Mr Tamari said.
"But at the same time, it's a terrible situation, it's a devastated situation.
"Some of us just didn't want to believe until the very last minute that this is the end, and today, we'll recognise that this is the end."
Dalit Dash had travelled to the cemetery to show her support, despite not knowing the family.
"We have been with them for a long stretch of time, we spent two years in the streets, calling for the release of the hostages," she said.
"It's good that he is back. Unfortunately he arrived in this situation — he could have returned differently."
Ms Dash said it would have taken even longer to get to this point if it had been left to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal with Hamas.
She said US President Donald Trump had dragged him to it.
Bodies of two more dead hostages returned
If analysis confirms the two bodies handed over on Wednesday are hostages, then 19 remain in Gaza.
The IDF said a body handed over on Tuesday was not that of a hostage based on forensic analysis.
The ceasefire deal had stipulated that all remaining hostages in Gaza must be returned within a 72-hour period.
Hamas had told mediators it would be a difficult task because the mounds of rubble and their location were in territory controlled by Israel, a caveat reportedly acknowledged by all sides.
Before releasing the remains on Wednesday, Hamas's military wing Al Qassam Brigade said it had "fulfilled its commitment to the agreement" by handing over the hostages it could.
"As for the remaining corpses, it requires extensive efforts and special equipment for their retrieval and extraction. We are exerting great effort in order to close this file," it said.
Meanwhile, the Hamas-run health ministry said it had received the bodies of 45 more Palestinians from Israel, another step in implementation of the ceasefire agreement.
It brings the total number of Palestinian bodies returned to Gaza for burial to 90.
The forensics team examining the remains said they showed signs of mistreatment.
Hamas must be pressured
For the families of the dead hostages whose bodies remain in Gaza, it is a time of mixed emotions.
Udi Goren, a leading campaigner for the hostage families, said he was "thrilled" when the 20 living captives were handed over.
"These are all people that I know intimately and consider them my extended family," he said.
But Mr Goren said he felt "let down" that not all of the hostages had been returned, including his cousin Tal Haimi, who was killed battling Hamas gunmen at his kibbutz before being taken into Gaza.
"The deal stipulated within 72 hours all hostages come back, and for the first time in these past two years, I actually thought Tal might be coming back, and he didn't," he said.
Mr Goren said families were assured at a meeting with the US special envoy Steve Witkoff that the deal was "very complex" and articulated "a lot of leverage over Hamas".
He said those pressure points should now be used.
"Unfortunately, and I say it with great sorrow, if we don't act forcefully with Hamas, we will never get the murdered hostages back home."
Long journey to recovery
The 20 living hostages handed over to Israel earlier this week are being cared for in specialised clinics at several Tel Aviv hospitals.
One of them, Omri Miran, was taken by Hamas militants from his family home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, about 700 metres from the Gaza border, on October 7.
His brother-in-law Moshe Emilio Lavi said it had been "extraordinary" to witness his recovery since his return earlier this week.
"He still needs to go undergo the necessary medical treatments in the next couple of months and, of course, all the support from a mental [health] perspective," he told the ABC's 7.30 program.
"But I have no doubt he'll recover and return to be the father and husband and son he was on October 7."
The Rabin Medical Centre at Beilinson is caring for five of the returned hostages, including 24-year-old Evyatar David, who had last been seen in a Hamas video in what appeared to be in very poor shape, apparently digging his own grave.
Rabin Medical Centre director of nursing Mihal Steinman said he and the other hostages seemed at first to be doing remarkably well, given their ordeal.
"These are five amazing, very, very, brave young men that against all odds … survived this traumatic captivity," Dr Steinman said.
But she said the baggy clothes the hostages were wearing on their return were deceptive.
Speaking of Mr David, she said: "When you see him when he's dressed, he looks one way, but when you check him you see that he really needs now a lot of nutritional treatment and slowly, slowly to gain weight."
"But he wants to eat," Dr Steinman said.
Another of Dr Steinman's charges is 32-year-old Avinatan Or, the boyfriend of former hostage Noa Argamani.
The couple's capture became one of the enduring images of the horrors of October 7.
Now reunited, they have since shared their first cigarette together in two years.
Dr Steinman said this happened in a private garden at the hospital, and that the medical team made the call that this was "not the time to tell him, stop smoking".
"It's the time to tell him, 'If that's what you want to do right now, this is what makes you feel good, this is your happy moment, take it,'" she said.
"'You will have time to quit smoking cigarettes another time, not right now.'"
The hostages are expected to remain with their families at the hospital for several days before being released.
Then their treatment will continue with daily sessions as outpatients in a "homecoming clinic".
"We will escort them for years," Dr Steinman said.
