The Israeli military says it has recovered the bodies of five Israelis taken hostage in Gaza during a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7.
The bodies of kindergarten teacher Maya Goren as well as soldiers Major Ravid Aryeh Katz, Sergeant Oren Goldin, Sergeant Tomer Ahimas and Sergeant Kiril Brodski were found during an operation in the Khan Younis area.
The military said it had determined that Ms Goren was murdered while in captivity, while the other soldiers were killed in action on October 7 and their bodies were later abducted.
The announcement means 111 of the 251 hostages still being held in Gaza, including 39 who the military said were dead.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly mentioned the fate of the hostages in a speech to the US Congress, but he gave no clues about whether a deal had been reached with Hamas to secure the release of the hostages in exchange for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
“As we speak, we are actively making intensive efforts to secure their release,” he said.
His failure to bring further hope to the families and friends of the missing has drawn attention.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the speech “a hoax,” adding that Netanyahu “spoke for an hour without saying: ‘There will be a hostage deal.’”
Relatives of the hostages watching the speech on screens set up in Hostage Square in central Tel Aviv also reacted with anger and horror.
Talya Dancyg, granddaughter of Alex Dancyg, who died in custody on Monday, cried: “My grandfather can still live with us, he is waiting for someone to come and save him. He is waiting, he is waiting for you to close the deal!”
“Do you know that you are becoming an accomplice to murder?” Nissan Kalderon, brother of hostage Ofer Kalderon, shouted.
“You are killing our family, give up your political ambitions.”
Shortly afterwards, the kibbutz of Nir Oz and Nir Yitzhak issued separate statements saying they had been informed of the discovery of the bodies of Ms. Goren and Sergeant Goldin.
On Thursday, a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency, also known as Shin Bet, confirmed that commandos had recovered their bodies, along with those of Major Katz, Sergeant Ahimas and Sergeant Brodski, during an operation in the Khan Younis area, south of Gaza, on Wednesday.
“The IDF and ISA will continue to operate, using all intelligence and operational means to fulfill the paramount mission of rescuing all hostages,” the statement added.
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum praised what it called “the momentous and decisive military action that has brought important closure to the families and eternal rest to those killed”.
“Israel has a duty to return all those killed for honorable burials and all hostages alive for rehabilitation. The immediate return of the remaining 115 hostages can only be achieved through an agreement!”, including four other Israelis kidnapped before October 7.
The forum called on Mr Netanyahu to send the Israeli negotiating team to Qatar “without delay”.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said the negotiators would depart on Thursday, after what it called extensive discussions with Mr Netanyahu over the weekend. But on Wednesday, Israeli officials said the team would only arrive in Doha after Mr Netanyahu met with US President Joe Biden at the White House.
The IDF also said on Thursday that its troops were continuing operations against “terrorist infrastructure and elements” in Khan Younis and claimed that they had killed dozens of Palestinian militants in the past few days.
On Wednesday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a car in Jourat al-Loot, south of Khan Younis. Medical workers told Reuters that two others were killed in an airstrike in Bani Suhaila, an eastern town where Hamas said it had targeted Israeli forces.
The United Nations estimates that more than 150,000 people have been displaced from Khan Younis since Monday, when Israel ordered the evacuation of eastern neighborhoods that were part of a designated “humanitarian zone”.
Israel launched a military operation in Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
More than 39,170 people have died in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
