Israeli troops have recovered the bodies of three hostages in the Gaza Strip, with the military saying they were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack and their bodies taken into Gaza.
The Israeli military says its troops in Gaza have found the bodies of three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7 attack, including German-Israeli Shani Louk.
A photo of the 22-year-old Shani’s body in the back of a pickup truck was shown around the world and brought to light the scale of the proscribed terror group’s attack.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) identified the other two bodies found as those of 28-year-old woman, Amit Buskila, and 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said all three were killed by Hamas at the Nova music festival – an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border – and their bodies taken into Gaza.
The military did not give immediate details on where their bodies were found.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking,” saying: “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”
Israel has been operating in the strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it has said it has intelligence that hostages are being held.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others in the October 7 attack.
Around half of those have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a weeklong ceasefire in November.
Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.
More than 35,000 Palestinians have currently died as a result of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
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