Tel Aviv [Israel]: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, confirmed the deaths of several hostages held by the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip, as reported by The Times of Israel on Saturday.
He said, “We are continuing to invest many intelligence and operational efforts, to bring information on the conditions of the hostages,”
The Times of Israel reported that Hagari informed, “In the last few days, the IDF and police notified the families of Eliyahu Margalit, Mia Goren, Ronen Engel, and Aryeh Zalmanovich of their deaths.”
“This comes after a team of Health Ministry experts, the [Abu Kabir Forensic Institute], the chief rabbi and Religious Affairs Ministry declared their deaths based on findings that were collected and intelligence,” Hagari said.
He added the four’s deaths were declared “based on findings that were collected, and intelligence.”
Friday’s announcement regarding hostages deaths come at a time when IDF resumed its Gaza offensive after the breakdown of a weeklong truce.
During the truce, 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, including 81 Israelis, 23 Thai nationals and 1 Filipino, in exchange for 210 Palestinian prisoners, all of them women or minors. Israel also allowed an influx of humanitarian aid into the Strip, The Times of Israel reported.
Still held hostage by Gaza terror groups when the truce collapsed were 136 people–114 men, 20 women and two children–government spokesperson Eylon Levy said. Ten of the hostages are 75 and older. The vast majority of the hostages, 125, are Israeli. Eleven are foreign nationals, including eight from Thailand.
Israel launched an offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the October 7 assault on southern Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and some 240 taken hostage.
