Israel recovers the bodies of six hostages in Gaza

JERUSALEM,  Israel 

Israel on Sunday said it had recovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, including a young Israeli-American man who became one of the most well-known captives held by Hamas.

The parents of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin had met with world leaders and pressed for his release, including at the Democratic convention last month.

He and four of the other hostages were seized at a music festival in southern Israel during Hamas' 7 October attack, which triggered the war.

The other hostages were identified as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33; who were also taken from the music festival.

The sixth, 40-year-old Carmel Gat, was abducted from the nearby farming community of Be'eri.

Israel’s military said all six had been killed shortly before they were to be rescued by Israeli forces.

The recovery of their bodies has sparked calls for mass protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Many families of hostages and much of the wider Israeli public blame him for failing to bring them back alive in a deal with Hamas to end the 10-month-old war.

Negotiations over such a deal have dragged on for months. The Israeli leader has said military pressure is needed to win their release as ceasefire efforts falter.

Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.

Before Sunday’s announcement, Israel said it believed 108 hostages were still held in Gaza and about one-third of them were dead.

Two previous Israeli operations to free hostages killed scores of Palestinians. Hamas says several hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and failed rescue attempts.

Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israelis who had escaped captivity in December.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, when they stormed into southern Israel in October last year.

Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza, according to local health officials.

It has also displaced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people, often multiple times, and plunged the besieged territory into a humanitarian catastrophe.

Meanwhile, Israeli military vehicles were seen in the West Bank town of Jenin, early on Sunday.

There was heavy fighting in the city earlier in the week, culminating with Israel claiming to have killed a senior Hamas commander on Friday.

At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in Israelis raids across the northern West Bank since late Tuesday.

Israel says they are aimed at preventing attacks.

The Palestinians see the raid as a widening of the war in Gaza and an effort to perpetuate Israel’s decades-long military rule.

Palestinian officials say at least 663 people have been killed in the West Bank since the war started.