Israeli troops recovered the bodies of three victims of an Oct. 7 Hamas attack in northern Gaza during an overnight operation, the military said Friday, further fueling concerns about the fate of Gaza’s remaining hostages.
Israeli officials identified the three hostages as Hanan Yablonka, 42, Michelle Nissenbaum, 59, and Orion Hernandez Radu, who holds dual French and Mexican citizenship. Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said all three were killed in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 and that Hamas militants had brought their bodies back to Gaza.
According to Israeli authorities, about 125 hostages, both alive and dead, remain in Gaza, and ceasefire talks, which would secure their release, have stalled. Israel and Hamas held months of indirect talks to try to reach an agreement, but the talks collapsed in early May.
On Thursday, the Israeli prime minister’s office said the cabinet had ordered its negotiating team Continue negotiations to reach an agreementBut as Israel continues its operation in Rafah in southern Gaza, the prospects appear dim. The Israeli government has come under increasing criticism from some of the hostages’ families who say it has not done enough to reach a deal.
The Hostage Families Forum, an organization representing the hostages’ families, said: “The discovery of the hostages’ remains is a silent but firm reminder that the State of Israel is obligated to immediately send a negotiating team and clearly demand an agreement to quickly bring all hostages home.”
In the past week, seven bodies have been found. Brought back to Israel Most of the seven hostages who were brought back have not been publicly declared dead by Israeli authorities.
The bodies were all found in Jabaliya, where Israeli troops have been conducting operations since the beginning of this month to try to root out a new Hamas insurgency. The Israeli military said the four bodies, including Ms Luke’s, were kept in an underground tunnel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly mourned the deaths of the three hostages and vowed to do “everything possible” to bring the remaining hostages home.
Mr. Nissenbaum, a volunteer medic from Brazil who lives in the city of Sderot near Israel’s border with Gaza, set out on the morning of Oct. 7 to pick up his 4-year-old granddaughter, who was with her father at the Reem military base, which was under heavy attack by Hamas, Admiral Hajari said. But he was unable to do so because Palestinian militants ambushed him on the way, Hajari said.
Both Jablonka and Radukes were attending the Nova Tribe psychedelic music festival near the Reem kibbutz, where Palestinian militants shot and killed Israeli civilians who tried to cross fields, drive away or take shelter in nearby bomb shelters. At least 360 people were killed in the attack, according to Israeli authorities.
