Israel has recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages captured by Hamas on October 7. As reported by the country’s Defense Forces, intelligence services located the bodies on Saturday in an underground tunnel in Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip.
The bodies have been identified and have already been transferred with their families to Israeli territory, according to the army statement. They are hostages Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino.
“Following an identification procedure conducted by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Israel Police and the IDF Military Rabbinate, the hostage team of the IDF Personnel Directorate, tasked with accompanying the families of the hostages, informed their families,” the statement said. The IDF communicates. “The Israel Defense Forces and the Internal Security Agency (ISA) extend their deepest condolences to the families,” the letter added.
IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said this morning that the six hostages were killed by Hamas shortly before forces reached them, according to the army’s initial investigation. Their bodies were found about a kilometer from where hostage Kaid Farhan al-Qadi was found alive last week.
The bodies found belong to four men and two women, reducing the number of people still captive to 97, out of the 251 kidnapped on October 7. Of these, at least 33 are confirmed dead, according to the EFE agency.
“A deal for the return of the hostages has been on the table for more than two months. Without the delays, sabotage and excuses, those whose deaths we learned about this morning would probably still be alive,” reacted the Forum of Hostages and Missing Families, which called for demonstrations this Sunday in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
