JERUSALEM: Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of three hostages from the Gaza Strip on Thursday night.
Chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Friday identified the three as Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Yitzhak Gelernter. The Hamas killed them while fleeing the Nova music festival and took their bodies to Gaza, he said. However he didn’t specify the location where they finally found the bodies.
The Israeli government had confirmed the death of German-Israeli Louk, a 23-year-old tattoo artist, in late October. The Hamas paraded her half-naked body through Gaza on the back of a pick-up truck and aired it on social media.
However, 57-year-old Gelernter’s family remained “in total darkness” about his fate until Friday, his daughter told a TV Channel.
“We held on to hope and had a lot of faith that the end would be different,” she said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the military operation in a statement on Friday and reiterated a pledge to return all the hostages, “the living and the deceased alike”.
The armed wing of Hamas, the group that governs Gaza, said it was “skeptical” of Israel’s claims. The only way for the remaining hostages to return alive was through a truce, it said.
“The resistance believes that the enemy will not get its prisoners except as lifeless corpses or through an honourable exchange deal for our people,” it said. At least 129 of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas during their October 7 attack are said to be held in Gaza.
(REUTERS)
