Israel army says 5 Gaza hostages confirmed dead
- The families have been notified, a spokesman says, and one of the bodies has been brought back to Israel for burial
- The army says reports of the deaths of a 10-month-old baby and his mother and brother have not been verified
The Israeli army on Friday confirmed the deaths of five hostages held in Gaza, saying their families had been informed, and the body of one of them returned to Israel.
“In recent days, the IDF [military] and Israel police notified the families of the hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovitz about their deaths,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.
He also said troops had brought back the body of a fifth person whom he identified as Ofir Tsarfati.
Separately the army said Tsarfati’s body had been “located in recent days” in Gaza by troops and the Shin Bet internal security service and brought to Israel for burial, with the family informed of his death on Wednesday.
Tsarfati was kidnapped from a rave party near the Gaza Strip during the Hamas attacks on October 7, when militants stormed into southern Israel killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and snatching some 240 hostages.