The Israeli army has recovered the bodies of three more hostages during a special operation in the Gaza Strip. The statement says that they are civilians Ofra Keidar and Yonatan Samerano and soldier Shay Levinson.
According to the army, the three were killed on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas attacked Israel. About 1,200 people died that day and 251 people were taken hostage by Hamas.
Earlier this month, the army recovered the bodies of two other hostages from Gaza. According to information from the Israeli authorities, there are still fifty hostages in Gaza. It is expected that only twenty of them are still alive.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said several times that getting the hostages back is Israel’s most important goal. Last month, the Prime Minister stated that it was a very important goal, but the ultimate goal was a victory over the “enemies of Israel.”
Experts have previously told NU.nl that the goals of freeing hostages and defeating Hamas at the same time are contradictory. They argue that the Israeli blockade in Gaza and the large-scale attacks carried out there do not ensure their release.
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, more than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed. These figures come from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas. The figures are generally considered reliable by the United Nations and the World Health Organization.