Israel on Tuesday received the coffins of two hostages returned from Gaza through the Red Cross, and officials said the remains will be identified before being released to their families as the military vowed to keep working to bring home all remaining captives.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the coffins were handed over to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet force inside Gaza. From there, they will be transferred to Israel, where they will be received in a military ceremony with the chief military rabbi.

Once received, the coffins will be placed in the custody of the National Center of Forensic Medicine of the Ministry of Health, where they will be identified. The families will receive formal notification once the process is complete.

The prime minister’s office said all families of the deceased hostages have been updated and sympathy has been expressed for their loss.

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

«The effort to return our hostages continues ceaselessly and will not stop until the very last hostage is returned,» Netanyahu’s office said.

The news comes the same day remains of a hostage returned from Gaza were identified as Sgt. Maj. Tal Haimi, commander of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak’s rapid response team.

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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as President Donald Trump prepares to deliver remarks to the Knesset Oct. 13, 2025 in Jerusalem. (Kenny Holston/Pool/Getty Images)

Haimi was 41 when he died, and, according to the IDF, he was killed in combat while defending Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. His remains were taken to Gaza, where they were held for more than two years.

Haimi’s family initially believed he was taken alive, and Israel declared him deceased Dec. 13, 2023.

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

The Israeli army held a military protocol for deceased hostage Tal Haimi. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)

Following the identification of Haimi’s remains, Netanyahu’s office expressed condolences to his family and reiterated its call for Hamas to release the remains of all deceased hostages for proper burial.

The IDF echoed the call, demanding Hamas fulfill its obligations under the agreement brokered by the Trump administration.

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On Oct. 13, 2025, the final 20 living hostages returned to Israel after more than two years in captivity. Since then, the remains of 28 deceased hostages have gradually been returned, while 13 others — including U.S. citizens Itay Chen and Omer Neutra and soldier Hadar Goldin, whose body has been held since 2014 — remain in Gaza.

Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A conservative watchdog group has released a video that it says raises concerns that administrators at the University of Utah are continuing to push diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), possibly at odds with a relatively new state anti-DEI law. 

«No, no comment,» University of Utah education coordinator Lucas Alvarez told Accuracy in Media when asked about an allegation he was pushing DEI in violation of a 2024 law aimed at curbing DEI practices inside state universities.

Accuracy in Media President Adam Guillette then showed Alvarez video of him explaining the current DEI practices at the university. 

«We’re still, I think, figuring out as we go, like, HB261,» Alvarez said in the video. «It’s complicated, I mean, like, the programs that we’re doing, I think technically we’re still allowed to do them, but they have to be marketed in a certain way.»

BOMBSHELL REPORT EXPOSES ‘DEEPLY CONCERNING’ MIDWEST UNIVERSITY INITIATIVE PUSHING FAR-LEFT K-12 LESSON PLANS

When pressed by Guillette on what he meant by changing «marketing,» Alvarez once again said no comment.

Alvarez was also pressed about another comment he made on video suggesting DEI was still a focus at the university, explaining that his department has been «meeting with a lot of campus partners» to do the «strategic work» of being in «compliance» but pointing out that these partners have «academic freedom.»

«I think what he was referring to was the professors have academic freedom to do research and speak from their expertise in the field that they’ve studied,» LeiLoni McLaughlin, the university’s director of the Center for Community & Cultural Engagement, told Guillette when asked what Alvarez meant.

UNIVERSITY DOCTOR RESIGNS AFTER UNEARTHED AUDIO EXPOSES HIM BOASTING ABOUT SKIRTING ANTI-DEI LAWS

The University of Utah campus is viewed from Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Rick Bowmer/AP Photo)

«He kind of suggested that they shifted things over to the professors though,» Guillette said, prompting McLaughlin to explain she thinks that was a «false statement.»

McLaughlin was then asked by Guillette what Alvarez meant by changing the «marketing.»

«I think with the legislative changes, every university has had to shift,» McLaughlin said.

«Shift their actions or just shift how they market what they are doing,» Guillette responded.

«Both,» McLaughlin answered. 

WATCH: DEI STILL IN PLACE AS COLLEGE ‘FINDING WAYS’ AROUND BAN, OFFICIAL ADMITS: ‘PROUD OF THE FIGHT’

People march outside the office of hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, protesting his campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion and attacks against former Harvard University President Claudine Gay in New York City, Jan. 4, 2024. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

A University of Utah spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement, «I reject the assertion that the university is hiding diversity work with rebranding and remarketing.»

«The changes required under HB 261 transformed how we support student success, recruit faculty, celebrate events and create a sense of belonging on our campus.»

The spokesperson added that Alvarez is «not a spokesperson for the University of Utah.»

«His comments do not reflect the position of the institution,» the spokesperson continued. «The comments of LeiLoni McLaughlin, director of our Center for Cultural and Community Engagement…were much more aligned with university leaders.»

The spokesperson also pointed to an interview that she said showed the Black Student Union was «extensively mourning the loss of their center and identity-based resources» due to the school following the new law. 

The school has previously outlined measures taken to conform with the law, including closing identity-based resource centers, transferring DEI employees to other jobs on campus, and prohibiting diversity statements in hiring. 

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«This isn’t about one or two bad apples — it’s about a broken system,» Guillette told Fox News Digital about his video footage, filmed in October 2024 and May of this year. 

«Utah needs a Kansas-style DEI ban with a reporting mechanism and actual legal consequences. And more importantly, America’s university system needs to be fundamentally reshaped with a focus on education rather than activism.»

Republicans across the country, along with President Donald Trump’s administration, have scored major victories pushing back on DEI in favor of meritocracy standards, but experts have warned that universities and organizations will be hostile toward the idea of giving up those methods and will instead attempt to rebrand them under different banners.

«At first, they just pushed back on, tried to defend DEI itself, but when that became so obvious that what DEI really was anti-White, anti-Asian, sometimes anti-Jewish discrimination in hiring and promotion, they abandoned that,» Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told Fox News Digital earlier this year. «Now what they’re trying to do is simply change the terminology that has become so toxic to their brand. So we’re seeing a lot of companies move from having departments of DEI, for example, to ‘departments of belonging’ or ‘departments of inclusivity.’»

Hid added, «It is the exact same toxic nonsense under a new wrapper, and they’re just hoping to extend the grift, because a lot of these people — I would say most of the people — working in DEI are useless.»