The bodies of three more hostages killed by Hamas during the October 7 attack were recovered by Israeli troops overnight from Gaza. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on Friday said that the bodies were recovered from the northern Gaza Strip.
The bodies were identified as Orión Hernández Radoux (30), Hanan Yablonka (42), and Michel Nisenbaum (59). The deceased were kidnapped from the Mefalsim area. According to the Times of Israel, they were killed on October 7.
Hernández Radoux and Yablonka were at the Supernova music festival when they were kidnapped, it said.
IDF said the bodies of the three hostages were recovered in a joint operation carried out by the military and Shin Bet.
Around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more, said IDF. As many as 250 hostages were kidnapped and held captive by Hamas. Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, as part of the truce deal, around half of the hostages were freed in return for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back. However, he faces immense pressure to resign amid hostage families protests across the nation. The Hostages Families Forum on Thursday released a three-minute video of woman IDF soldiers captured by Hamas. The video shows them “bruised and bloodied”. The video was released by the families to pressure the government to take serious measures to bring back the hostages.
ICJ to rule on Israel to halt its Rafah offensive
The World Court is set to rule on Friday South Africa's request to order Israel to halt its Rafah offensive and withdraw from Gaza. The country had asked the court to impose emergency measures to ensure the survival of the Palestinian people.
The rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are binding and final, but it has not been implemented by Israel so far.
Israel has repeatedly dismissed the accusations of genocide as baseless. It had justified the attack as self-defence and targeted Hamas militants.
Israeli military spokesperson said the army is operating "carefully and precisely" in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from Israeli bombing and operations.
Several European countries on Wednesday said they would recognise a Palestinian state and the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Monday that he had filed an application for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as leaders of Hamas. ICC prosecutes for alleged war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.
