The body of Israeli hostage Ilan Weiss has been recovered in an operation in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military has announced. Weiss, 56, was killed during Hamas’s attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023. The remains of a second hostage, whose identity has not been released yet, were also recovered, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Israel launched a massive offensive in Gaza following the attack in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken back to the territory as hostages. At least 62,966 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Ilan Weiss was killed while defending Kibbutz Beeri on the day of the attack. His body was taken to Gaza. Weiss’s wife, Shiri, and daughter, Noga, were taken hostage by Hamas on the same day. They were released during a temporary ceasefire in November 2023.
“Ilan showed courage and noble spirit when he fought the terrorists on that dark day,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, before praising Weiss’s family’s “extraordinary strength in their struggle for his return”. After the latest announcement, 48 hostages remain in Gaza – 20 of whom Israel believes are still alive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been facing strong domestic pressure to agree a deal that would enable the return of all hostages still in captivity. Huge protests have been held demanding an end to the war. However Israel is pushing ahead with its plan to take over Gaza City and eventually establish control over the entire Strip. Netanyahu argues the defeat of Hamas will secure the release of the hostages.
Western countries – and the UN – have warned that an operation in an area of Gaza where more than a million people live would have devastating consequences. The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said the military was operating with great intensity on the outskirts of Gaza City and would “deepen our strikes”.
The IDF also said a scheduled pause in military action which had been due to come into effect at 10:00 (07:00 GMT) would not apply to Gaza City. On Friday, Hamas warned that the planned Gaza City offensive would subject hostages in the area to the “same risks” as those faced by the group’s fighters.
“We will take care of the prisoners the best we can, and they will be with our fighters in the combat and confrontation zones, subjected to the same risks and the same living conditions,” the spokesperson for its armed wing said. Later on Friday the Hamas-run health ministry said Israeli fire across the besieged territory killed 48 people on Friday.
Footage filmed by the Reuters news agency showed a line of bodies in white bags outside Shifa hospital in Gaza City as relatives grieved nearby. “What is the reason? Why did they strike them? Let them tell us, what did they do while they were sleeping? What did a three-year-old child do?” Manal Sahweil, a relative of people killed in an airstrike, said to Reuters.
A further five people including two children died from malnutrition in Gaza, bringing the total number of malnutrition deaths to 322, the health ministry said. Last week, a UN-backed body, which monitors hunger levels around the world, raised its food insecurity status in parts of Gaza to the highest and most severe – confirming famine for the first time. Israel denies there is starvation in the territory.
Since 14 August, the day the offensive was announced, about 20,000 people have been displaced to the south from Gaza City in addition to about 40,000 moving further north, according the UN’s humanitarian affairs office. Most of Gaza’s population has been repeatedly displaced. More than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed and the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed.
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