JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army said Friday that its forces in Gaza Israel has found the bodies of three Israeli hostages killed by Hamas during its attack on October 7, including German-Israeli Shani Luke.
A photo of the twisted body of Luke (22 years old) in the back of a pickup truck spread around the world and shed light on the scale of the militant attack on communities in southern Israel. The army identified the other two bodies as a 28-year-old woman named Amit Buskila, and a 56-year-old man named Isaac Gelernter.
The three were killed by Hamas while fleeing Nova Music FestivalIt was an open-air dance party near the Gaza border, where militants killed hundreds of people, military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a press conference.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu She described the deaths as “tragic”, saying: “We will return all our hostages, both living and dead.”
The army said that the bodies were found during the night, without providing details, and did not provide immediate details about their whereabouts. Israel is carrying out operations in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, where it says it has intelligence information about hostage-taking.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapped about 250 others in the October 7 attack. About half of those hostages have since been released, most of them as part of a swap for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a week-long ceasefire in November.
Israel says that about 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, along with the bodies of about 30 others. Israel’s war in Gaza The attack has since killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
Netanyahu pledged to eliminate Hamas and return all the hostages, but he made little progress. Faces Pressure to resign, and threatened the United States To reduce its support for the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to stop the war and release the hostages, and others who believe that the hostages represent an unfortunate price in exchange for eliminating Hamas. Intermittent negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States, and Egypt yielded little results.
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