JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Tuesday it has recovered the bodies of six hostages taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked a war in Gaza, as U.S. and Arab mediators tried to reach a deal to end the fighting and release dozens of other prisoners captured by militants.
The army said its forces recovered the bodies in an overnight operation in southern Gaza, without saying when or how the six died. A forum for hostage families said they had been abducted alive. Hamas said some of the prisoners were killed and wounded in Israeli airstrikes.
The recovery is a blow to Hamas, which hopes for a hostage swap for Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire. But it would also likely increase pressure on the Israeli government to strike a deal to release dozens of hostages believed to still be alive.
The military said it had identified the remains of Chaim Perry, 80; Yoram Metzger, 80; Avraham Munder, 79; Alexander Dancyg, 76; Nadav Popplewell, 51; and Yagev Buchshtav, 35. Metzger, Munder, Popplewell and Buchshtav had relatives who were also abducted but were released during a cease-fire in November.
Munder's death was confirmed Tuesday by Kibbutz Nir Oz, the farming community where he was one of about 80 residents detained. It said he died “after months of physical and mental torture.” Israeli authorities had previously confirmed that the other five had died.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the reconstruction, saying “our hearts weep for the terrible loss.”
“The State of Israel will continue to do everything in its power to bring back all of our hostages, both alive and dead,” he said in a statement.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also praised the operation, which he said was carried out inside Hamas' vast tunnel network. There were no immediate reports of casualties among Israelis or Palestinians in the recovery operation.
Hamas is believed to still be holding around 110 hostages captured in the October 7 attack. Israeli authorities estimate that around a third of them are dead.
Blinken, making his ninth visit to the region since the war began, said Monday that Netanyahu had accepted a proposal to close gaps in months-old ceasefire negotiations and called on Hamas to do the same.
Hamas has accused the United States of embracing Israeli demands and trying to impose them on the militant group. There still appear to be major differences between the two sides, including Israel's demand for continued control over two strategic corridors in Gaza, which Hamas has rejected.
Hamas-led militants broke through Israeli defenses on October 7 and swept through the south, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. More than 100 hostages were released in exchange for Palestinians trapped in Israel during a week-long ceasefire last year.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which did not say how many militants were involved. Air and ground operations have caused widespread destruction and forced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to flee their homes, often multiple times. Aid agencies fear outbreaks of diseases such as polio.
An Israeli airstrike in central Gaza early Tuesday killed five children and their mother, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where an Associated Press reporter counted the bodies. The hospital said the father, Alaa Abu Zeid, a schoolteacher, had been in Israeli custody for the past nine months.
The mediators have been trying to finalize a proposal for a three-phase process, in which Hamas releases all hostages in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli withdrawal from the area and a permanent ceasefire.
Blinken traveled to Egypt on Tuesday and is also expected to hold talks in Qatar.
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Associated Press reporters Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Matthew Lee in el-Alamein, Egypt contributed.
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