Gaza: Israeli troops recover corpse of three hostages killed by Hamas

The Israeli military says its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three Israeli hostages killed by Hamas during its October 7 attack.

Israeli’s military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said the bodies include a German-Israeli Shani Louk.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, Hagari said the bodies were found overnight.

Hagari said all three were killed by Hamas while fleeing the Nova music festival, an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border, where militants killed hundreds of people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called the deaths “heartbreaking,” saying, “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”

Israel has been operating in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it says it has intelligence that hostages are being held.

Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more. Israel’s war in Gaza since the attack has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back, but he’s made little progress. He faces pressure to resign, and the U.S. has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.