Israel says body of hostage Itay Svirsky recovered from Gaza

The Israeli army says the physique of an Israeli hostage held by Hamas within the Gaza Strip has been recovered in a joint operation with the Shin Bet safety service.

A press release mentioned Itay Svirsky, 38, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri throughout Hamas’s 7 October 2023 assault on Israel, was “murdered in captivity by his captors”.

Hamas mentioned in January that Svirsky and one other hostage, Yossi Sharabi, 53, had been killed by Israeli air strikes.

Earlier, the army mentioned an investigation had concluded that probably the most believable clarification for the deaths of six different hostages discovered lifeless in a tunnel in Gaza in August was that they had been shot by Hamas “close” to the time of an Israeli air strike.

Troops recovered the our bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, 35, Alexander Dancyg, 76, Avraham Munder, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Chaim Peri, 79, and Nadav Popplewell, a 51-year-old British-Israeli twin nationwide, together with these of six Hamas fighters, within the southern Khan Younis space.

The army mentioned it was “highly probable” the hostages’ deaths were related to a February strike on a nearby underground site that targeted Hamas commanders.

Pathologists found indications of gunshots on the hostages’ bodies, while no gunshot wounds were found on the fighters’ bodies, it added.

Due to the extended time that had passed “it was not possible to determine with complete certainty the precise cause of death of the hostages or the exact timing of the gunfire”, in keeping with the army.

“According to the most plausible scenario, the terrorists shot the hostages close to the time of the strike,” it mentioned. “However, it is also possible that the hostages were shot by other terrorists post-mortem; it is even possible that the hostages were killed prior to the strike in the area.”

An Israeli army official advised reporters that the army believed the six Hamas fighters had been “were killed from secondary effects of our strike”, like lack of oxygen.

The military also stressed that it had “no information”, on the time of the strike that the hostages had been within the underground web site that was focused or its neighborhood.

“Had such information been available, the strike would not have been carried out,” it mentioned, noting that it was preceded by the required planning and approval course of.

There was no instant remark from Hamas.

Buchshtab, Dancyg, Munder, Metzger, Peri and Popplewell had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and Kibbutz Nirim on 7 October 2023.

About 1,200 folks had been killed by Hamas-led gunmen that day, whereas 251 others had been taken again to Gaza as hostages.

The US, Egypt and Qatar have spent months engaged on a deal to safe the discharge of the 96 remaining hostages, 35 of whom are presumed lifeless, in return for a ceasefire in Gaza.

But the negotiations have stalled, with Hamas and Israel blaming one another for the deadlock.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum mentioned the army investigation’s findings “serve as yet another proof that the lives of hostages face constant, daily danger”.

“Time is of the essence – many of the hostages are still alive and enduring impossible conditions of abuse, starvation and isolation,” it warned.

The forum called on US and the other mediators to “do everything necessary to achieve a deal for the hostages’ return”.

It separately welcomed the return of Itay Svirsky’s body for burial in Israel, saying it “gives essential closure for his household”.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday that “strain on the monstrous organisation often called Hamas is rising”.

“There is a chance that this time we will truly be able to advance a hostage deal.”

More than 44,500 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched a military campaign in response to the 7 October attack, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

On Wednesday evening, at least 20 people had been killed by an air strike in the Israeli-designated “humanitarian area” in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, according to medics and the Hamas-run Civil Defence Agency.

Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said a tented camp for displaced families was bombed and that the dead included five children.

The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted “senior Hamas terrorists” in the area.

Another 10 people were killed when Israeli strikes hit three houses in Gaza City, in northern Gaza, according to Mr Bassal.

Earlier, five people were killed in an Israeli strike on the urban Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, medics said. Local media said four of the dead were children and that the strike had targeted a queue outside a bakery.

The Israeli army mentioned it had struck a “terrorist target” in Nuseirat, with out giving any particulars, in keeping with the Associated Press.