JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli special forces have recovered the bodies of French-Israeli hostage Elia Toledano and two Israeli soldiers who had been held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack, the Palestinian Authority said. Israeli army.
The army said an “identification procedure” was carried out by medical officials, military rabbis and forensic experts.
Elia Toledano, who was 28, was kidnapped at a music festival near the Gaza Strip and targeted by Hamas during its attack in southern Israel on October 7, the Israeli government said. his family’s French lawyer, Patrick Klugman, on BFM TV.
The young man had accompanied the Franco-Israeli Mia Schem, who for her part was released by Hamas on the last day of the humanitarian truce in Gaza two weeks ago.
“Our compatriot Elia Toledano was kidnapped on October 7 by Hamas. Deep sadness this morning upon learning of his death in Gaza. I share the shock and pain of his family,” declared French President Emmanuel Macron on X, formerly Twitter .
“We share the pain of his family and those close to him,” the head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, also declared on the X platform. “The release of all hostages is our priority.”
More than 130 hostages are still in Gaza, out of the 240 who were kidnapped on October 7. Some were declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.
The two soldiers whose bodies were found at the same time as that of Elia Toledano, Nik Beizer and Ron Scherman, were 19 years old.
The reprisals carried out by Israel since the massacre committed by Hamas on October 7 on Israeli soil have left nearly 19,000 dead and 51,000 injured, according to the latest report provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; French version Camille Raynaud and Zhifan Liu, editing by Tangi Salaün)
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