The bodies of three of the remaining 132 hostages in Gaza Shani Louk, 23, Amit Buskila, 28, and Itzik Gelenter, 57, — were recovered by the IDF, the army announced on Friday.
All three had been at the Nova music festival and were killed on October 7, during Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel, and their bodies were taken into Gaza.
Combined effort between agencies
The IDF said that the bodies were uncovered during a joint operation with the ISA based on “intelligence obtained during the interrogations of terrorists who were apprehended in the Gaza Strip, as well as intelligence from IDF Intelligence Directorate's Headquarters for the Hostages and Missing Person.”
On Thursday, the IDF announced the death of two Thai agricultural workers also killed by Hamas on October 7 and whose bodies were still in Gaza.
Hamas is believed to be holding 39 bodies in Gaza.
The discovery of the bodies comes as efforts to secure a hostage deal for the release of all the captives had hit a dead end.
Hamas and Israel remain at odds over the question of a permanent ceasefire. The terror group has demanded that the IDF end the war and withdraw from Gaza, while Israel has insisted that the war can only end once Hamas is defeated.
The war cabinet is expected to meet on Saturday to discuss how to break the impasse. Qatar and Egypt, which have been mediating the deal, have blamed Israel, while the United States, which has been supporting their efforts has accused Hamas of preventing an agreement.
The deaths of the hostages and the rising IDF fatality county add fuel to the growing frustration in Israel over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war, now in its seventh month, and the absence of any clear horizon to see the hostages return home.
Hamas responded to the recovery
In response to the military's announcement, the armed wing of Hamas said it was "skeptical" of Israel's claims and added that the only way for the remaining hostages to return alive was through a truce.
"The resistance believes that the enemy will not get its prisoners except as lifeless corpses or through an honorable exchange deal for our people," it said.