International Desk, Bangladesh Global: The Israeli military says it has recovered the bodies of six hostages taken in Hamas’ October 7 attack.
Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Tuesday that its military had recovered the bodies in an overnight operation in southern Gaza.
The hostages have been identified as Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Haim Perry - but it is not yet clear when or how they died.
Five of the hostages are said to have been aged over 50-years-old when they were captured, and three had family members who were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the recovery effort and said “our hearts ache for the terrible loss".
“The State of Israel will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages - both alive and dead,” he added in a statement.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7.
Hamas is still believed to be holding around 110 hostages captured during the attack over 10 months ago, and Israeli officials have estimated that around a third of those are now dead.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Air and ground operations have caused widespread destruction and forced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million residents to flee their homes.
The United States, Egypt and Qatar are trying to mediate a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of scores of hostages held by the militant group.
The mediators have been trying to finalise a proposal for a three-phase process in which Hamas would release all the hostages in return for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli withdrawal from the territory and a lasting truce. But there still appears to be wide gaps between the two sides.
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