The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Tuesday morning (20) that they had recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages who had been kidnapped by Hamas during the massacre of October 7, 2023.
The rescue took place during a night operation on Monday (19). The bodies of Alex Dancyg (75), Yagev Buchshtav (35), Chaim Peri (79), Yoram Metzger (80), Nadav Popplewell (51) and Avraham Munder (78) were located by the Israeli military in a Hamas tunnel located in the city of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip. Among the bodies recovered, Munder’s was the only one that had not yet been officially declared dead by Israel, the Israeli newspaper reported. The Times of Israel.
The hostages had been captured alive by terrorists during the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 and, according to the The Times of Israel, everything indicates that they were victims of the terrorists while they were in captivity during the subsequent 10 months of war.
The deaths of Dancyg, Buchshtav, Peri, Metzger and Popplewell had already been confirmed by Israel during the months of June and July, while Munder was the only one of those found today who was still on the list of living hostages held captive by Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his condolences to the families and thanked Israeli soldiers and commanders for the operation that culminated in the recovery of the bodies.
As reported by The Times of Israel, The prime minister reaffirmed Israel’s commitment to continue its efforts to rescue all hostages still held by Palestinian terrorists.
The IDF said it was currently investigating the cause of death of the six hostages.
With the recovery of these bodies, of the 251 hostages kidnapped on October 7, 105 hostages remain inside the Strip, of which 34 have been confirmed dead; while the bodies of 30 kidnapped people were recovered and taken back to Israel.
In addition, 116 hostages left the Strip alive, most of them in the only one-week truce agreement in November last year, when 105 hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners, in addition to seven rescued in military operations by the army.
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