Over a third of Gaza hostages are dead, Israel says

Source: Kurd Net - Ekurd.net Daily News

JERUSALEM, -- Israel believes that more than a third of the remaining Gaza hostages are dead, a government tally showed on Tuesday, as the United States sought to advance their recovery under a proposal to wind down the war with Hamas.

Of about 250 people dragged into the Gaza Strip by Hamas-led Palestinian Islamic gunmen during the Oct. 7 cross-border rampage that sparked the war, scores were freed in a November truce, while others have been recovered - dead or alive - by Israeli troops.

The government tally said 120 remain in captivity, 43 of whom have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli officials based on various sources of information, including intelligence tip-offs, CCTV or bystander videos and forensic analysis.

Some officials have privately said that the number of dead could be higher.

Hamas, which threatened at the outset of the war to execute hostages in reprisal for Israeli air strikes, has since said such attacks caused hostage deaths. Israel has not ruled that out in all cases, but said that some recovered hostage bodies showed signs of execution.

On Monday, four more hostages were added to Israel's list of fatalities.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday went public with an Israeli proposal to wind down the war, under which some hostages would go free during a preliminary ceasefire.

But mediated efforts to clinch that deal have been bogged down as Israel insists on eventually resuming the campaign to destroy Hamas while the Palestinian Islamist group demands a guaranteed end to the war and withdrawal of all invasion forces.

On October 7, 2023, gunmen from the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the international community, carried out ISIS-style attack in southern Israeli communities and military bases, resulting in the tragic loss of over 1,200 lives. Israel's military reports that the Islamic group is currently holding 253 hostages in Gaza.

Israel launched its assault to annihilate Gaza's ruling Hamas Islamists in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack and vowed to wipe the Gaza-based Hamas militant group "off the face of the earth" over an assault on southern Israel, the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israeli history. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, Egypt, the European Union, Israel and Japan.

According to Gaza's health ministry, which is linked to Hamas, over 36,000 Gaza residents have killed in the conflict. However, these figures are viewed with skepticism due to the ministry's affiliation with Hamas.