Mourners attended the funeral on Tuesday of one of the three Israeli soldiers whose remains were recently released by Hamas as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

Col. Assaf Hamami, 41, commander of Israel’s southern brigade in the Gaza division, was killed during the militants' October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel while fighting to defend Kibbutz Nirim.

His body was taken into the Palestinian territory.

According to Israeli media, Hamami was the first person in the military to declare that Israel was at war, at 6:37 a.m. on October 7, less than 10 minutes after the attack began.

Hamami and two of his soldiers were killed while fighting to defend Kibbutz Nirim, and their bodies were taken to Gaza.

The other two soldiers’ remains were retrieved in July 2024. Hamami is survived by his wife and three children.

A Hamas statement said the remains were found Sunday in a tunnel in southern Gaza.

Since the truce began in October, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 20 hostages, with eight still in Gaza.

For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been releasing the remains of 15 Palestinians, in total 270 since the ceasefire started.

AP video shot by Ami Bentov