Israel says Itay Svirsky’s body was found in Gaza

The Israeli military says the body of an Israeli kidnapped by Hamas in the Gaza Strip was found in a joint operation with Shin Bet security forces.

The statement said Itay Svirsky, 38, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, “was killed in captivity by his captors”.

Hamas said in January that Svirsky and another hostage, Yossi Sharabi, 53, were killed in Israeli strikes.

Earlier, the military said that an investigation concluded that the most plausible explanation for the death of six other hostages found dead in a tunnel in Gaza in August was that they were shot by Hamas “close to” the time of the Israeli airstrikes.

The soldiers found the bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, 35, Alexander Dancyg, 76, Avraham Munder, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Chaim Peri, 79, and Nadav Popplewell, 51, a British-Israeli, and an Israeli. six Hamas soldiers, in the area south of Khan Younis.

The military said it was “highly likely” that the deaths of the hostages were related to a February strike on a nearby hideout targeted by Hamas commanders.

Pathologists found evidence of gunshot wounds on the bodies of the kidnappers, while no gunshot wounds were found on the bodies of the attackers, it added.

Because of the long time that has passed “it was not possible to determine with absolute certainty the exact cause of death of the hostages or the exact time of the gunshot”, according to the military.

“According to the sound situation, the terrorists shot the hostages near the time of the strike,” it said. “However, it is also possible that the hostages were shot by other terrorists after the autopsy; it is possible that the kidnappers were killed before the strike in the area.”

An Israeli military official told reporters that the military believed six Hamas fighters were “killed as a result of our strike”, such as lack of oxygen.

The soldiers also insisted that they had “no information”, during the strike, that the hostages were in or near the target underground.

“If such information was available, we would not have carried out the strike,” he said, noting that it was preceded by the necessary approval process.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Buchshtab, Dancyg, Munder, Metzger, Peri and Popplewell were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and Kibbutz Nirim on 7 October 2023.

About 1,200 people were killed by gunmen led by Hamas that day, and another 251 were returned to Gaza as hostages.

The US, Egypt and Qatar have spent months working on a deal to secure the release of the remaining 96 hostages, 35 of whom are presumed dead, to end the fighting in Gaza.

But the talks have stalled, with Hamas and Israel blaming each other for the conflict.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the findings of the military investigation were “further evidence that the lives of hostages are in constant, daily danger”.

“Time is of the essence – many of the captives are still alive and enduring impossible conditions of torture, starvation and isolation,” it warned.

The forum called on the US and other mediators to “do everything necessary to reach an agreement on the return of the hostages”.

It separately welcomed the return of Itay Svirsky’s body for burial in Israel, saying it “provides important closure for his family”.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday that “pressure is increasing on the terrorist organization known as Hamas”.

“There is a chance that this time we will actually be able to move forward with the hostage agreement.”

More than 44,500 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched a military operation in response to the October 7 attack, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

On Wednesday evening, at least 20 people were killed by an air strike in an area designated by Israel as a “relief area” in al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, according to medics and the Hamas-run Civil Defense Agency.

The spokesman for Civil Defence, Mahmoud Bassal, said that the camp where the families’ tents were moved was bombed and that the dead included five children.

Israel’s military said its plane was targeting “high-ranking Hamas terrorists” in the area.

Another ten people were killed when Israeli strikes hit three houses in Gaza City, north of Gaza, according to Mr. Bassal.

Earlier, five people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, health officials said. Local media said four of the dead were children and the strike was aimed at a queue outside the bakery.

The Israeli military said it attacked a “terrorist target” in Nuseirat, without providing details, according to the Associated Press.