The Israeli army has confirmed the deaths of five hostages captured in the Gaza Strip, its spokesman Daniel Hagari announced on Friday, saying it had informed the families.
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“In recent days, the Israeli army and police have informed the families of hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovitz of their deaths,” he said at a news conference.
“An expert committee from the Ministry of Health, the Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Chief Rabbinate and the Ministry of Religious Affairs determined her death based on conclusions (of an investigation) and intelligence information,” he said.
In addition, “as part of a joint operation with Shin Beth (the internal security service), based on concrete information, we returned the body of hostage Ofir Zarfati to Israel for burial,” he added.
Of the approximately 240 people abducted and then taken to the Gaza Strip during the unprecedented deadly Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7, 137 are still being held there, Israeli authorities previously announced.
After a week of ceasefire, fighting and bombardment resumed in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning.
In retaliation for the October 7 attack, which Israeli authorities said killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign on Gaza, followed by a ground operation.
According to Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, Israeli operations have claimed more than 15,000 lives, mostly civilians.