The bodies of six hostages captured by Hamas militants on October 7 have been retrieved from a tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, the Israeli military said on Sunday. All the victims have been named.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Hersh Goldberg-Polin, aged 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 25 were killed by Hamas a short time before the military found them.
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Alex Lubnov (named Aleksander Lobanov in the Russian media) was a dual Russian-Israeli citizen. According to the Hostage Families Forum, an organisation representing relatives of the captives, he lived in Ashkelon, was married, and had two children. He was reportedly kidnapped from the NOVA music festival, where he was working as a bar manager.
The news of the recovery brought calls for “a massive demonstration” from the Hostage Families Forum, which has criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to agree a hostage-for-peace deal with Hamas that had been under negotiation several months. It has demanded “a complete halt of the country and the immediate implementation of a deal to release the hostages.”
Hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza flared up when the Palestinian militant group conducted a surprise incursion into southern Israel ten months ago, killing around 1,100 people and taking more than 200 others hostage. Some were later released through prisoner swaps or rescued by the Israeli army. The massive Israeli military response has claimed nearly 40,700 lives, while 94,060 people have been wounded, according to Palestinian health officials.
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Talks to bring about a truce and secure the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners have been conducted for months with mediation from Qatar, the US, and Egypt. Last month, Hamas rejected a renewed US proposal for a hostage release and ceasefire deal, accusing Netanyahu of sabotaging negotiations, and blaming Washington for supporting him. Israel said it could not accept Hamas’ demand to end the war in Gaza as a condition for a deal.
Last week, Reuters reported that Egypt was hosting US and Israeli delegations for another round of talks on a Gaza ceasefire.
According to Israel, 251 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken during the 7 October raid, and 103 are still being held in Gaza.