Bodies of six Israeli civilians taken hostage in October recovered in Gaza, says IDF

Israel has recovered the bodies of six hostages who were seized during the attack by Hamas on 7 October last year and taken to Gaza, its military announced yesterday.

- Bethan McKernan

An overnight operation in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, found the bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Chaim Peri.

All were civilians abducted from their homes in kibbutzim adjacent to Israel's barrier wall with the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The military gave no details about how or when the men died. Over the past few months the families of all six had announced the men had been killed after being briefed on IDF intelligence findings.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, praised the recovery effort and said "our hearts ache for the terrible loss". He added: "The state of Israel will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages the living and the deceased."

In Gaza yesterday at least 10 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced families west of Gaza City, its civil defence authorities said. Israel said the school was being used as a Hamas base.

The number and identity of the estimated 120 Israelis who remain in captivity in Gaza, and the sequencing of how they might be released, is one of the key stumbling blocks in the renewed ceasefire talks. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Monday described the current round of negotiations as "maybe the last opportunity" to broker a truce agreement in the 10-month-old conflict.

In a call with Netanyahu yesterday afternoon, Keir Starmer expressed his condolences about the hostages while also stressing his support for the US-brokered peace efforts.