Bodies of five hostages held in Gaza recovered, says Israel army
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Families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza watch the live broadcast of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech in the US Congress on July 24.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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JERUSALEM - Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of five Israelis held in the Gaza Strip after they were killed during Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on southern Israel, the military said on July 25.
It said the bodies of Ms Maya Goren as well as soldiers Tomer Ahimas and Kiril Brodski, along with Mr Ravid Aryeh Katz and Mr Oren Goldin – military reservists – had been returned to Israel following a rescue operation.
The five had been previously announced dead, and the military and an Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, said that they all had been killed by Palestinian militants on the day of the attack.
The military said the soldiers were killed in combat while fighting the militants on Oct 7.
The attack by Hamas militants on that day resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
The bodies were recovered on July 24 during an operation in Khan Younis, the main city in the south of the Gaza Strip, the military said, more than nine months into the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, in a statement praising the rescue mission, said the military “will continue fighting Hamas until its defeat”.
“We are committed to returning the hostages home.”
The recovery of the bodies came days after the military launched a new assault on Khan Younis
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum insisted that the Israeli government agree to a ceasefire deal that could help return the remaining captives.
It said the recovery of the five bodies “is a crucial and decisive military action that provides their families with important closure and eternal rest for the murdered”.
In a statement on July 25, the group added, “It is Israel’s duty to return all the murdered for honourable burial and all living hostages for rehabilitation”.
The group separately demanded an urgent meeting with Israel’s team for negotiating a ceasefire and hostage-release deal, saying a “crisis of trust” had emerged.
“It has now become apparent that the information provided to the hostages’ families did not accurately reflect the situation’s reality,” the group said in the latest statement.
“This foot-dragging is a deliberate sabotage of the chance to bring our loved ones back. It effectively undermines the negotiations and indicates a serious moral failure.”
Their accusation came while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – whose critics have accused him of prolonging the war – is in Washington for talks on July 25 with US President Joe Biden.
A senior US administration official said on July 24 that negotiations on a Gaza deal were in the last stretch and that Mr Biden would try to close some “final gaps” with Mr Netanyahu.
July 25’s military announcement came after two Israeli communities, Nir Oz and Nir Yitzhak, said in separate statements late on July 24 that the army had recovered the bodies of Ms Goren and Mr Goldin.
“Last night, we were informed that in a military rescue operation, the body of the late Maya Goren was recovered,” the Nir Oz kibbutz community said, adding that her family had been informed and more information would follow.
Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak said the army had returned Mr Goldin’s body.
“This evening, we were informed about the rescue operation for the late Oren Goldin, a member of the kibbutz emergency team, who fell on Oct 7” during the attack by Hamas militants, Nir Yitzhak said.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,145 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. AFP
