Fighting continues Israel confirms death of five Hamas hostages
December 1, 2023, 10:59 pm Listen to the article
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Just hours after the end of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military reported the death of five Hamas hostages. Family members are said to have been informed in recent days. Meanwhile, the fight continues.
The Israeli army confirmed the death of five hostages who were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian radical Islamic organization Hamas. Family members were informed and the body of a hostage was returned to Israel, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
In recent days, the army and police have informed the families of hostages Elijahu Margalit, Maja Goren, Ronen Engel and Arje Zalmanovitz about their deaths, Hagari said. Israeli soldiers also brought Ofir Tsarfati’s body. A press release said soldiers and members of the Shin Bet intelligence service located Tsarfati’s body in Gaza “in recent days” and took it to Israel for burial. His family was informed on Wednesday.
Tsarfati was attending a rave party near the Gaza Strip when hundreds of Hamas fighters entered Israel on October 7 and committed atrocities mainly against civilians. According to Israeli information, around 1,200 people were killed in Israel and around 240 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip. In response, Israel massively bombed targets in the Gaza Strip, both from the air and on land.
After a week-long ceasefire, fighting continued today. In the evening, the Israeli army said it attacked 200 targets in the Gaza Strip. The military said attacks by ground, air and naval forces took place in the north and south of the isolated coastal area.
Targets in the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah were also attacked. According to the army, booby-trapped areas were attacked, as well as tunnel shafts, launch pads and Hamas command centers. Additionally, “a number of terrorist cells across the Gaza Strip” were eliminated. Information cannot be independently verified.
Hamas also said it fired rockets into central Israel for the first time after the ceasefire expired. In the center of the coastal city of Tel Aviv at night, dull explosions could be heard in the distance. Warning sirens also sounded at an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, south of Jerusalem. There were also several rocket alarms in locations near the Gaza Strip and northern Israel.