Hostages – Killed by Israel after October 8th
Updated 2024-08-25
2022-08-22 Israeli military says recovered hostages’ bodies had gunshot wounds The Israel Defense Forces confirmed Thursday that gunshot wounds were found on the bodies of six Israeli hostages held by Hamas retrieved from southern Gaza in a military operation earlier this week.
The IDF recovered the hostages’ bodies Tuesday from a tunnel below Khan Younis using intelligence gathered over weeks, the military said. Nadav Shoshani, a spokesman for Israel’s army, said Hamas had used a false wall to hide the six bodies. The army also said that four bodies, seemingly of Hamas members, were found next to the hostages with no signs of gunfire.
Funerals were held Wednesday for several of the hostages at their home kibbutzim from which they were abducted. Those found and brought back this week were Yagev Buchshtab, 35; Alexander Dancyg, 76; Avraham Munder, 79; Yoram Metzger, 80; Nadav Popplewell, 51; and Chaim Peri, 80.
The new information comes after a Ynet report that said the army was investigating the possibility that the hostages suffocated to death as a result of a fire started during an IDF airstrike in the area.
It also comes as talks to free the remaining hostages have again been stalling, and desperation has been spiraling among the hostage families who say that the returned bodies operation this week are grim proof that their time is running out. “The recovery of the six bodies is no achievement; it is a testimony of the complete failure to reach a deal in time, as six hostages who were supposed to return alive have returned in coffins,” said the Hostage Families Forum. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israeli-military-says-recovered-hostages-bodies-had-gunshot-wounds/ar-AA1pgfop?
2024-08-21 Anger, despair as Israelis bury hostages who died in captivity Tearful crowds gathered on Wednesday for the funerals of hostages whose bodies were recovered this week from war-torn Gaza, with some mourners voicing anger that they were not saved.
The Israeli military on Tuesday announced it had retrieved the remains of Yagev, 34, and five other hostages from a tunnel in Gaza’s southern area of Khan Yunis after a battle with Palestinian militants. They were among 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack which triggered the war. Of those, 105 are still being held hostage inside the Gaza Strip, including 34 the military says are dead. The crowd quickly dispersed to attend the funeral of Avraham Munder, 79, another hostage whose body was recovered on Tuesday, in the nearby Nir Oz kibbutz.
Many who came to pay their respects to the dead Israeli hostages on Wednesday lamented the fact that months of negotiations have yet to yield a deal releasing the rest. “We were promised efforts to reach an agreement,” said Nissan Kalderon, 56, whose brother Ofer Kalderon, a French-Israeli, is still held captive in Gaza. “We really hope that the agreement will be concluded immediately, so that we can save those who are still alive and bring back the dead to bury them, because every day that passes, they die. This is the proof,” said Kalderon, wearing a T-shirt with his brother’s photograph. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/anger-despair-as-israelis-bury-hostages-who-died-in-captivity/ar-AA1pcuit?
2024-03-23 UPDATE 1-U.S. proposes hostage-to-prisoner ratio in Gaza truce talks, Israeli official says The United States has made a “bridging proposal” for the number of jailed Palestinians to be released by Israel in exchange for every hostage freed by Hamas in any new Gaza truce, an Israeli official briefed on the Qatar-hosted talks said on Saturday. Hamas wants to parlay any deal into a permanent end to the fighting – short of a formal peace, as the Islamist group is sworn to Israel’s destruction. Israel plans to pursue the war until Hamas’s governing and military capacities are dismantled.
Israel has expressed openness to suspending its offensive for six weeks and allowing more humanitarian aid into Gaza in return for the 40 hostages. That would leave behind 90 hostages, out of 253 seized by Hamas in its Oct. 7 cross-border rampage that sparked the war.
The Hamas armed wing said on Saturday that an Israeli hostage had died due to “lack of medicine and food”. Israeli officials have generally declined to respond to such announcements, accusing Hamas of psychological warfare. But Israel has itself declared 35 of the hostages dead in captivity. (Writing by Dan Williams and Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Mike Harrison) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/update-1-u-s-proposes-hostage-to-prisoner-ratio-in-gaza-truce-talks-israeli-official-says/ar-BB1kpYje
2024-01-15 Two captives killed in Israeli air strikes: Qassam Brigades In a follow-up to a video released yesterday, Hamas’s Qassam Brigades released a video that depicts what appear to be the bodies of two Israeli captives, Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky. In the video, another captive, Noa Argamani, says that she was injured in an Israeli air strike that killed Sharabi, before adding that Svirsky was then killed in another strike. The claims made in the video cannot be independently verified. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2bnr7EdKUo
2024-01-18 Israeli army gassed my son ‘like Auschwitz,’ mother of slain Israeli soldier says An outraged Israeli mom has sparked an uproar after accusing the Israeli army of deliberately gassing her son to death while he was being held in a Gaza tunnel. Now she says the Israeli military had her son’s gravestone removed after her critical message went viral. His killing follows a pattern of Israeli military attacks on Israeli captives in Gaza, raising questions about the existence of a friendly fire policy to prevent prisoner swaps.
The mother of a now-dead Israeli soldier captured by Hamas militants on October 7 says it was the Israeli military, not Palestinian resistance fighters, who killed her son. In a recently-published post on Facebook, Israeli mother Maayan Sherman wrote that her son Ron was “indeed murdered – not by Hamas,” but in circumstances more akin to “Auschwitz and the showers.” The killing of her son, she wrote, was caused “not from accidental gunfire, nor from crossfire, but from premeditated murder – bombing with poison gas.”
“Ron was kidnapped because of the criminal negligence of all the senior officials of the army and this damned government, who gave an order to eliminate him in order to settle a score with some terrorist from Jabalya,” she added. Sherman’s body, alongside those of fellow captured soldiers Nik Beizer and Elia Toledano, was recovered from a tunnel in Gaza in December. Mainstream media outlets previously blamed Palestinians for the killing of at least one of the captives, whose death was falsely described in one publication as a “Hamas execution.”
Sherman’s unflinching denunciation of top-level Israeli officials represents one of the few isolated instances of Israeli citizens publicly criticizing their government. Following the October 7 raids, the Netanyahu administration imposed a strict crackdown on speech, with those calling for a ceasefire frequently facing lengthy jail sentences for supposedly sympathizing with terrorists.
But Sherman’s condemnation of Israeli authorities didn’t end there. A gravestone she had installed over her son’s final resting place also bore a pointed inscription: Sergeant Ron Sherman was “kidnapped, abandoned, and sacrificed in Gaza by the Israeli government,” the stone read. That changed on Wednesday, however. A day after her denunciation of Israeli authorities caused an uproar in local media, Sherman took to Facebook again to write that the Israeli military had seized the gravestone. https://thegrayzone.com/2024/01/18/israeli-army-gassed-auschwitz-soldier/
2024-01-17 Briahna Joy Gray: Is Israel KILLING HOSTAGES? Inside the IDF’s Reported Oct 7 ‘Hannibal Directive’ Briahna Joy Gray delivers a radar surrounding media coverage of the Israel-Hamas War. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziC95CJ8lU0
2023-12-29 Israeli military report reveals new failures in mission to rescue mistakenly killed hostages Israel’s army chief said troops failed in their mission to rescue three hostages mistakenly killed in Gaza earlier this month as the military on Thursday published its report into the incident. Herzi Halevi, chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said the shootings “could have been prevented,” but he determined there was “no malice in the event and the soldiers carried out the right action to the best of their understanding of the event at that moment.”
Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer Talalka were captured by Hamas on October 7 and taken to Gaza. The three men were accidentally killed during an IDF operation around the Gaza City neighborhood of Shejaiya on December 15 in an incident that shocked Israeli society.
The report into their deaths concluded that Israeli command ranks had information about the presence of hostages in the area where they were killed and “even took actions to prevent strikes on locations suspected of having hostages.” But the investigation also found that Israeli forces in the field had “insufficient awareness” of the possibility that hostages would approach them or that they would encounter them other than as part of a special operation to free the Israelis held.
According to the findings, on December 15, an Israeli soldier fired toward three hostages “identified as threats,” killing two of them. The third hostage fled, and the battalion commander gave an order to hold fire to identify the third person. After the commander heard someone screaming “help” in Hebrew, he called on the person to come toward the soldiers; the hostage emerged from a building and moved toward the troops, the report said. Two soldiers didn’t hear the commander’s orders to hold fire “due to noise from a nearby tank” and fatally shot the third hostage, according to the investigation.
The probe also concluded that the “hostages were walking shirtless, and one of them was waving a white flag, standing at a point with limited visibility relative to the position of the soldier that fired the shot.” In the days before the killing of the hostages, the report said Israeli soldiers heard cries for help in Hebrew coming from a building while troops fought Hamas gunmen, adding that the soldiers thought it was an attempt to trap them. Also, a camera that was mounted on a military dog during the fight captured the voices of the hostages crying for help. That same day, a note reading “Help” in Hebrew was found at the exit of a tunnel, the report claimed, which Israeli soldiers interpreted as an attempt by Hamas to lure them. On December 14, Israeli drone footage identified signs reading “SOS” and “Help, 3 hostages” on a building 200 meters (656 feet) from where the hostages were killed the next day, the report said, claiming the Israeli military suspected this was a trap after blue barrels that it says are commonly found in rigged areas were spotted nearby.
Halevi, the military IDF chief, concluded that the killing of the hostages shouldn’t have happened and didn’t match up to the risk of the situation. “What we have told our troops is to be extra vigilant and do one more safety check before dealing with kinetics with any threat that they face on the battlefield,” Conricus said, “but it is a very challenging environment that our troops are in.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israeli-military-report-reveals-new-failures-in-mission-to-rescue-mistakenly-killed-hostages/ar-AA1mbvKr
2023-12-28 American dual citizen Judith Weinstein died during Hamas terror attacks in Israel and her body is being held in the Gaza Strip: Husband was the first US citizen to die in captivity Israeli-American dual citizen Judy Weinstein, 70, was killed during the barbaric Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7, revealed Kibbutz Nir Or on Thursday. The body of the grandmother of seven, alongside her deceased husband Gadi Haggai, 73, is being held in the Gaza strip in the custody of Hamas. The elderly couple who lived on the peaceful Kibbutz near the Israeli southern border with Gaza were injured during Hamas’ surprise attack on Saturday, October 7 and taken into terrorist custody.
According to Israeli outlet Haaretz, Judy was able to call a kibbutz member for help after their abduction, and told them she had been shot in the arm while Gadi had been shot in the head and was ‘critically injured.’ An estimated 60 percent of the population of Kibbutz Nir Oz was kiled or taken hostage during the attack on October 7. It remains unclear how the kibbutz concluded that Weinstein was killed during the initial assault. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/american-dual-citizen-judith-weinstein-died-during-hamas-terror-attacks-in-israel-and-her-body-is-being-held-in-the-gaza-strip-husband-was-the-first-us-citizen-to-die-in-captivity/ar-AA1ma3LX
2023-12-24 Israel says five Gaza hostages found dead in tunnel, circumstances being probed Five Israeli hostages killed in Hamas captivity were recovered from an underground tunnel network in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday, showing footage of a white-tiled bathroom and work room linked by dark concrete-lined passages. The three soldiers and two civilians were among 240 people dragged back to the Gaza Strip by Hamas gunmen during the cross-border rampage of Oct. 7 that sparked the war. The military announced the repatriation of their bodies earlier this month.
Hamas last week published video showing three of the hostages alive in what appeared to be a narrow, white-tiled and windowless bedroom with an electric wall socket. In a Hebrew chyron directed at Israel, the Iranian-backed Islamist group said: “Your military weapons killed the three.” One tunnel ran to the home of Ahmad Al Ghandour, chief of Hamas’ North Gaza brigade, the Israeli military said. Hamas declared him and several other commanders killed in action on Nov. 26. Israel said they were targets of one of its air strikes. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-says-five-gaza-hostages-found-dead-in-tunnel-circumstances-being-probed/ar-AA1lZagN
2023-12-22 Gadi Haggai Confirmed as First American Hostage to Die in Hamas Captivity Gadi Haggai, 73, is the first American to die in Hamas captivity, according to the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum. Haggai was a dual American-Israeli citizen. “Gadi was a man full of humor who knew how to make those around him laugh. A musician at heart, a gifted flautist, he played in the IDF Orchestra and was involved with music his whole life,” the forum said in a statement.
Hamas abducted the couple from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. Haggai and Weinstein were out for a morning walk when terrorists struck. Weinstein called a kibbutz member for help shortly after Hamas began its attack, to say that she had been shot in the arm, and that Haggai had been shot in the head. The couple’s family and community have not heard from them since. “We know that they were badly wounded. We know that [Weinstein] still had the phone with her to be able to call and ask for help and provide details. But ever since then, we lost all contact with them,” Ofri Haggai, the couple’s niece, said last month.
More than 120 people are still hostages in Gaza, and the Israeli military expects that at least 21 of them are dead. Although Israel negotiated the release of more than 100 hostages last month in exchange for a week-long truce, Hamas leaders said this week that they would not comply with further hostage deals without “a total ceasefire and a retreat of the Israeli occupation army from the Gaza Strip.” “There is a Palestinian national decision that there should be no talk about prisoners or exchange deals except after a full cessation of aggression,” Hamas said in a statement.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Hamas rejected a hostage deal that would have released 40 hostages, including the remaining 19 women and two children held in Gaza, in exchange for a week-long pause in fighting. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that he “will spare no effort” in bringing the hostages home. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/gadi-haggai-confirmed-as-first-american-hostage-to-die-in-hamas-captivity/ar-AA1lUqwl
2023-12-22 U.S.-Israeli Hostage Killed In Gaza, Forum Says 73-year-old Israeli American dual citizen, who was kidnapped by the Hamas militant group during its Oct. 7 attack on Southern Israel, has been killed in Gaza, according to the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. Gadi Haggai was captured along with his wife, Judi Weinstein, who remains in Hamas’ hands, the forum said.
Haggai and Weinstein were taking their morning walk in Kibbutz Nir Oz when they heard gunfire and an alert system sounded “Red Alert.” Weinstein, a New York native and retired teacher, captured that moment in a 40-second clip and shared it in a group chat. That was the last time their family heard from them, according to The Associated Press. Iris Weinstein Haggai, one of the couple’s children, told AP she learned that her mother had tried to get an ambulance to get help to her father, who was seriously injured after the pair was attacked.
While a temporary cease-fire agreed by both sides earlier this year saw the release of 105 hostages, there are still about 129 hostages still in Gaza, of which 20 are dead, Israel says, according to Reuters.
Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war thus far, according to local officials, and more than 500,000 people in the besieged territory are starving, a new report released by the United Nations Thursday shows. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed his country will continue fighting until it achieves all its war aims, which include eradicating Hamas and achieving the release of all Israeli hostages. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/u-s-israeli-hostage-killed-in-gaza-forum-says/ar-AA1lUh7L
2023-12-19 They Deem Us Weeds: This Is What It Means To Be Unspeakable “There is nowhere for flesh to hide in Gaza; nothing with a pulse is spared,” writes one appalled observer. “Explosions merge into one another, and vibrant lives are burned, mangled and turned into unidentifiable carnage.” In this “war against defenseless civilians” whose death toll now creeps up to 20,000 – now 19,667, 70% women and children – it was perhaps foreseeable Israeli soldiers would eventually kill three captives “mistakenly identified as a threat.” What made it shocking was the revelation that Yotam Haim, Samar Al Talalka and Alon Shamriz, men in their 20s from Kibbutz Kfar Azza and Hura, were deliberately shirtless to show they were unarmed, shouting “Help us” in Hebrew, and holding a makeshift white flag. They had even scrawled “SOS” and “Help, Three Hostages” in Hebrew on a nearby wall; ever-discriminating Israeli soldiers thought it was a Hamas trap.
In a rare move, Israel officials actually acknowledged their error. An IDF spokesman expressed “deep remorse over the tragic incident,” said troops didn’t follow rules of engagement (but he “understood” the conditions that led to their act), declared a “comprehensive investigation (with) full responsibility and transparency,” and said “immediate lessons from the event had been learned,” if grievously belatedly and largely ignored. Many remained unassuaged. Shamriz’ brother charged the IDF with “abandoning,” then “murdering” him (true); his father called his death “an execution – literally.” A CAIR spokesman echoed many by noting the killing of unarmed, shirtless men waving a white flag “is deadly confirmation that Israeli troops are shooting anything that moves in Gaza,” while thousands of furious Israelis turned out to chant “Deal Now!” and call for a ceasefire.
A shameless Netanyahu said their deaths “broke the hearts of the nation” – “If only something had been different,” he bleated. “We were so close to embracing them” – before quickly pivoting to, “But this is war” and returning to the hollow vow to “continue until ‘victory.'” Israeli president Isaac Herzog similarly prattled, “We all embrace at this time the families whose worlds were destroyed” before declaring, “The righteousness of the way is clear and does not change for a moment.” Again, many were skeptical. The UK’s former defense secretary argued that Israel’s “original legal authority of self-defense is being undermined by its own actions,” and in the wake of Netanyahu’s many failures, if he thinks a killing rage will rectify matters, then he is very wrong.” Instead, he suggested, His tactics will fuel the conflict for another 50 years.” https://www.commondreams.org/further/they-deem-us-weeds-this-is-what-it-means-to-be-unspeakable
2023-12-18 Israel Protests ERUPT After 3 Hostages SHOT DEAD By IDF Krystal and Saagar discuss protests erupting after the IDF killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g4v4E6mBQE
2023-12-05 Relative of Israeli captives confirms ‘3 hostages killed by Israeli fire,’ blasts military An Israeli whose family members were held by Palestinian militants tells of friendly fire deaths and complains, “We used to think the IDF knows what it’s doing.” Meanwhile, freed captives detail “horrifying captivity trauma” from Israeli bombings.
In testimony delivered to Israel’s finance committee on December 3, Noam Dan, whose cousin’s husband remains in Hamas custody and who suffered the loss of two other family members in the hostilities, told legislators the Israeli military has killed its own. “We know for sure that three people were killed by our fire, three hostages,” she declared, while demanding to be informed of whether the families of captives “were given up on” by the Netanyahu administration. https://thegrayzone.com/2023/12/05/israeli-captives-confirms-hostages-killed-israeli-fire/
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