Israeli army identifies body of hostage
Israel suspects that 135 hostages are still being held by Hamas. The fighting in the Gaza Strip is making a new deal to free them more difficult. The army has now found another dead hostage and identified a 28-year-old man. He was kidnapped while attending a music festival in the Negev desert.
In view of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, Israel has recently come under increasing international pressure - including from the USA. Meanwhile, Israel continues to worry about the hostages still being held by Hamas. According to the military, it has recovered the body of another hostage taken from Israel to the Gaza Strip. The dead body was returned to Israel and identified there, the army announced.
The body was that of 28-year-old French-Israeli Elya Toledano, who had been kidnapped by Hamas during the massacre by the Islamist Hamas and other groups in Israel and abducted to Gaza. It was reported that his family had been informed. The army initially gave no details of the cause of death.
Toledano was abducted by Hamas fighters on October 7 while attending a music festival in the Negev desert with his girlfriend, French dual national Mia Shem. Shem was released at the end of November during the ceasefire between Israel and the radical Islamic group Hamas.
The army last stated the number of people still being held in Gaza at 135. It is unclear whether this includes the hostages who have since been declared dead. Israeli soldiers have already recovered several bodies in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Gaza war.
In the unprecedented attack by the terrorist organization Hamas and other extremists on border towns in Israel, a total of around 240 people have been kidnapped, according to Israeli figures. A total of 105 hostages were recently released as part of a deal between the government in Jerusalem and Hamas. In exchange, Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Netanyahu sees the Red Cross as having a duty
"We will continue to do everything we can to bring all the hostages home," said army spokesman Hagari. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called on the Red Cross to exert more pressure to gain access to Hamas hostages. "You have every opportunity, every right and every expectation to exert public pressure on Hamas," said Netanyahu at a meeting with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, in Tel Aviv. He presented her with a package of medicines and called on the ICRC to "fulfill its mission and deliver them to the hostages in Gaza".
The war between Israel and Hamas was triggered on 7 October by the unprecedented attack on Israel by the Islamist Palestinian organization. Fighters from Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, had invaded Israeli towns and villages and committed atrocities against civilians.
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The international community, including the USA, has been applying pressure on Israel due to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, has urged the Red Cross to exert more pressure on Hamas to gain access to the hostages they are holding. Currently, Israel suspects that 135 hostages are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, making a new deal for their release challenging due to the ongoing Israel war. The conflict in Gaza, involving Hamas and Israel, has resulted in numerous casualties, with the Israeli army recovering several hostage bodies since the start of the Gaza war.
Source: www.ntv.de
