[The Israeli military has concluded that a February strike on Khan Younis in southern Gaza may have led Hamas militants to execute six hostages, whose bodies were recovered in late August. The six hostages, all men, were taken from kibbutzim near the Gaza border. According to an IDF official, the most plausible scenario is that the hostages and their guards survived the initial effects of the strike, but were then shot by the militants, who later died from “secondary effects of the strike”, such as lack of oxygen in the tunnel where they were living.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that while the most likely explanation is that the hostages were killed by the militants, there are other possible scenarios, including that the hostages were killed by secondary effects of the strike or even before the strike. However, due to the time that passed between the hostages’ deaths and the forensic exams, it is not possible to definitively determine the cause of death.
The military has announced that operational lessons from this incident have been incorporated to minimize risks to hostages in the future. The families of the six hostages who were executed were presented with the findings of the investigation, which found that the military had not done anything wrong in the planning or execution of the strike.
Additionally, Israel recovered the body of another hostage, Itay Svirsky, a 38-year-old dual German-Israeli citizen, from Gaza. Svirsky was killed by his captors in January 2024. The recovery of his body was carried out by Israel’s military and security agency Shin Bet. Svirsky was laid to rest in Israel, and his family requested that no images of him from the Hamas video be shared. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Svirsky’s death brings the number of hostages currently held – dead and alive – to 100, of which 96 were taken on October 7.
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