Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of three hostages who had been held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 attack, according to the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The hostages were identified as 71-year-old Ofra Keidar and 21-year-old Yonatan Samerano civilians, and 19-year old soldier Shay Levinson.

Hamas agrees to hostage releases Photo shows Women and children carrying bottles and bags walk along a dusty road among flattened and wrecked buildings. Hamas responds to US-backed ceasefire proposals, saying it would agree to release 28 living and dead hostages, restating its demand for an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

All three were killed on the day of the attack, October 7, 2023, the military said.

The military did not provide any details about the recovery operation but did say the bodies were recovered on Sunday, local time.

“The campaign to return the hostages continues consistently and is happening alongside the campaign against Iran,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.

With this latest retrieval, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

Hostage families call for their release

The Hostages Families Forum, the main organisation representing families of the hostages, has repeatedly called for a deal to release the remaining captives.

“Particularly against the backdrop of current military developments and the significant achievements in Iran, we want to emphasise that bringing back the remaining 50 hostages is the key to achieving any sort of victory,” it said in a statement on Sunday.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Families of the remaining hostages have been rallying in Tel Aviv. (Reuters: Violeta Santos Moura)

Mr Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying Israel will continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile.

Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli authorities.

The subsequent Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 55,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run strip, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population, plunged the enclave into humanitarian crisis and left much of the territory in ruins.

Reuters/AP

The bodies of three more hostages are in Israeli care as of Sunday, June 22, the country’s military announced, leaving some 50 more to be returned. Meanwhile, ambulance activity in the Gaza Strip has come to a “complete halt,” as Israeli strikes killed upwards of 50 people in a 24-hour period, according to multiple reports.

IDF operation recovers three hostages

On Sunday, the Israeli military said it recovered the bodies of three hostages who were killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel. That attack, which saw 1,200 Israelis killed and 250 taken hostage, sparked the current war, which is four months shy of reaching two years.

The recovered hostages include 21-year-old Yonatan Samerano, 70-year-old Ofra Keidar, and Shay Levinson, aged 19.

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“The campaign to return the hostages continues consistently and is happening alongside the campaign against Iran,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

The Israeli military announced its hostage recovery operation shortly after the U.S. executed a military airstrike on its behalf, severely damaging three Iranian nuclear facilities. However, the AP notes that it’s unclear if the airstrike was related to the hostage operation. Iran has long been a supporter of Hamas, the militant group responsible for launching the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

According to The Times of Israel, the recovery operation was carried out by the Israel Defense Forces’ Gaza Division, utilizing “precise intelligence” from the Hostages Headquarters unit, the Military Intelligence Directorate, and the Shin Bet.

The paper also reports that Hamas is still holding 50 hostages. At least 28 are believed to be dead, 20 alive, and the condition of two others is unknown.

In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said, “We want to emphasize that bringing back the remaining 50 hostages is the key to achieving any sort of victory. There is a historic window of opportunity — the significant regional achievements enable Israel to end the war from a position of clear strength.”

Dozens of Palestinians killed as ambulance activity comes to a halt

Early Sunday morning, Ramy Abdul, a Gaza-born Palestinian financial expert and human rights advocate, wrote on X that “All ambulance vehicles in Gaza City have come to a complete halt,” following an Israeli ban on fuel entering the enclave.

This development occurs as Israeli forces killed at least 30 Palestinians across Gaza on Sunday, Al Jazeera reports, citing hospital sources in the region. Gaza’s Health Ministry puts the number at 51 in the last 24 hours.

Four of those deaths came from an airstrike on central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, Al-Awda Hospital told the AP. Another 22 were wounded while waiting for aid trucks. Another six were killed after Israel reportedly imposed an internet blackout that lasted five hours, a Gaza-based correspondent for Al Jazeera reports.

Since launching its offensive in the Gaza Strip, Israel has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. While the ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, the U.S. intelligence community suggests that Hamas had around 25,000 combatants prior to the Oct. 7 attacks. As of February, the number stands at around 17,000. If U.S. estimates are correct, that means from a death toll of around 55,000, roughly 47,000 would be civilians or noncombatants.

Aid distribution contractor requests $30 million in US funding

Meanwhile, the aid distribution sites run by the private Israel- and U.S.-backed contractor, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), continue to be plagued with reports of indiscriminate killings. While witnesses, hospital staff and experts maintain that Israeli gunfire is responsible for hundreds of Palestinian deaths at the sites, Israel asserts it has only ever fired warning shots near crowds –– never into them.

However, when asked how its soldiers handle crowd control near the sites, the IDF told the Associated Press its “operational conduct … is accompanied by systematic learning processes.”

Similarly, the GHF has denied that any shootings have occurred near its sites during operational hours, and said the incidents that are reported happen before the sites open, when Palestinians desperate for aid approach the areas “during prohibited times … or trying to take a short cut.”

Earlier this month, GHF temporarily paused its work in Gaza amid concerns of overcrowding, violence and an impending famine. However, the group has since requested an additional $30 million from the U.S. government to continue its operations. According to a funding application obtained by The Associated Press, GHF projects its costs to hit $150 million a month, or roughly $1.8 billion annually.

Israel recovers bodies of three hostages from Gaza

12 hours ago Share Save Thomas Mackintosh BBC News Share Save

Reuters The bodies of Yonatan Samerano, Ofra Keidar and Sgt Shai Levinson were retrieved on Saturday, the IDF confirmed

The bodies of three Israeli hostages have been recovered from the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. He confirmed that Yonatan Samrano, Ofra Kedar and Staff Sgt Shai Levinson’s remains were retrieved on Saturday in a military operation. “I thank our commanders and fighters for a successful operation, for their determination and courage,” Netanyahu said in a statement. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have recovered the bodies of eight hostages from Gaza so far this month.

“The campaign to return the abductees continues continuously and is taking place in parallel with the campaign against Iran,” Netanyahu said. “We will not rest until we return all of our abductees home – both the living and the dead.” The IDF said the bodies were recovered on Saturday, but did not say where in the Gaza Strip the remains were found. Ms Keidar was 71 when she was killed at a kibbutz and her body taken into Gaza. Staff Sgt Levinson “engaged and fought terrorists on the morning of 7 October and fell in combat,” the IDF said. He was 19 at the time of his death. Earlier on Sunday, Mr Samerano’s father announced that his son’s body had been recovered by the Israeli army. Posting on Instagram Kobi Samerano wrote: “Yesterday was Yonati’s Hebrew birthday. On his 23rd birthday, on the very day he was born, our Yonati was rescued in a heroic operation by the brave soldiers of the IDF and the Shin Bet.”

In a statement following the announcement, Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents some of the hostages’ relatives, said: “Our hearts are with the Keidar, Samerano, and Levinson families today. “Alongside the grief and pain, their return provides some comfort to the families who have waited in agony, uncertainty, and doubt for 625 days. “Particularly against the backdrop of current military developments and the significant achievements in Iran, we want to emphasize that bringing back the remaining 50 hostages is the key to achieving complete Israeli victory. “There will be no victory until the last hostage returns.”

Of the 251 hostages seized during the assault, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. PHOTO: AFP

– The Israeli military said on June 22 that it had recovered the bodies of three hostages in Gaza, more than 20 months after they were abducted by Hamas militants.

“In a special operation… the bodies of the hostages Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano and Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson were recovered from the Gaza Strip yesterday,” the military said in a statement.

Mr Samerano’s father had announced earlier on June 22 that his son’s body, which was taken into Gaza after he was murdered in a kibbutz by the territory on Oct 7, 2023, had been recovered by the Israeli army.

He paid tribute to “the brave soldiers of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) and the Shin Bet” security service in a message posted on Instagram.

Ms Keidar, a 71-year-old mother of three, was also killed in a kibbutz and had been abducted, while 19-year-old tank commander Levinson “engaged and fought terrorists on the morning of Oct 7 and fell in combat”, a statement from the military said.

The attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel in October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Of the 251 hostages seized during the assault, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 55,000 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The UN considers these figures reliable. AFP

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Israeli soldiers in a tunnel found at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, where the military believes Hamas military chief Muhammad Sinwar was killed last month…PHOTO: DPA

Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of three hostages taken during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault, the Israeli military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday, as reported by Reuters.

The deceased were identified as civilians Ofra Keidar and Yonatan Samerano, along with soldier Shay Levinson.

Military officials confirmed that all three were killed on the day of the attack and their remains were discovered in the Gaza Strip.

The retrieval brings the number of hostages still held in Gaza down to 50, with only 20 believed to be alive.

Samerano, who was 21 at the time of his abduction, was reportedly taken by an individual identified by Israeli authorities as an employee of the United Nation’s Palestinian refugee agency.

His kidnapping was captured on CCTV footage.

The October 7 attack left around 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli figures.

According to Reuters, the subsequent Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza has since killed more than 55,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run strip, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population, plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis, and left much of the territory in ruins.