The Israeli army announced Friday that it had discovered in the Gaza Strip the bodies of three Israeli hostages kidnapped during the attack carried out by Hamas on October 7 in Israel and had repatriated them. The army recovered “the bodies of our hostages Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Itzhak Gelerenter, taken hostage during the massacre committed by Hamas on October 7”, declared Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the army, adding that they were “brutally murdered” by Hamas while trying to flee the Nova music festival and “their bodies taken” to Gaza.
125 hostages still held in Gaza
According to Admiral Hagari, the bodies of the hostages were recovered “during a joint operation between the army and the intelligence agency” on the basis of information obtained in particular “during the interrogation of terrorists arrested in the Gaza Strip.” and were identified at the Israeli National Institute of Forensic Medicine. Shani Louk, a 22-year-old German-Israeli woman, appeared in a video on social media lying on her stomach, apparently unconscious and half-naked, in the back of a pickup truck in the Gaza Strip.
Amit Buskila was 27 years old and Itzhak Gelerenter was 56 years old at the time of the attack. “The return of their bodies is a painful and brutal reminder that we must quickly bring back all our brothers and sisters from their cruel captivity”, the living and the dead, reacted the Hostage Families Forum, the main association of relatives. Of the 252 people taken as hostages on October 7, 125 are still detained in Gaza, of whom 37 are dead according to the Israeli army.
Benjamin Netanyahu sends condolences to families
The surprise attack carried out from the Gaza Strip by Hamas commandos in southern Israel resulted in the death of more than 1,170 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures. Israelis. More than 360 people were killed at the site of the Nova music festival alone, held in southern Israel, very close to the border with the Gaza Strip. In response, Israel launched an all-out offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has already left more than 35,000 dead, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent his condolences to the families. “This terrible loss is heartbreaking”, we “cry with the families”, assured Benjamin Netanyahu, promising to bring back “all the hostages, the living and the dead”.