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 in a tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza, 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.
Israeli President Apologizes for Not Returning 6 Hostages 'Safely'
Israeli President Isaac Herzog apologized Sunday “on behalf of the State of Israel” to the families of the six hostages. “On behalf of the State of Israel, I embrace their families with all my heart and apologize for not being able to bring them home safely,” Herzog said in a statement to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Herzog vowed to continue fighting Hamas “tirelessly” and reiterated that there is a “supreme pact” between the state and its citizens that must guarantee their security.
Netanyahu, for his part, blamed Hamas for the lack of an agreement to release the nearly 100 hostages still held by Palestinian militias. “Those who murder kidnapped people do not want an agreement,” the prime minister said in a recorded message. “We, for our part, are not giving up. The Israeli government is determined, and I am personally determined, to continue fighting for an agreement that will return all our kidnapped people and guarantee our security and our existence.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has asked the cabinet to reverse the decision to keep Israeli troops on the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphia Corridor. Netanyahu's determination to keep his troops on the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt alone is one of the main obstacles to reaching an agreement with the Palestinian militia.
“It is too late for the hostages who were murdered in cold blood. (But) we must recover those still held by Hamas,” Gallant said in a statement.
Relatives of hostages call for new protests
In another message of condolences to the families, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the six were “murdered in cold blood” and praised the army and domestic intelligence service for the “complex operation” to recover their bodies.
Representatives and relatives of the hostages today announced new protests in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, adding to yesterday's call for a week of nationwide demonstrations calling for a truce in Gaza and an immediate deal for the hostages.
“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.