Israel buries bodies of 2 hostages recovered from Gaza

Two hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza last week were buried by family and friends in Israel on Monday in separate ceremonies. The Israeli military on Friday announced the return of the remains of Idan Shtivi, 28, and Ilan Weiss, 55, from the Palestinian territory, nearly 23 months after they were both killed on October 7, 2023. Shtivi, a student who had been attending the Nova music festival as a volunteer photographer when Hamas-led militants stormed the site, was laid to rest in Kfar Maas in central Israel. His mother Dalit spoke in her eulogy of the “divine bond” with her son, asking him to “forgive me for not being able to protect and keep you safe” during the ceremony, where mourners gathered around his casket draped in an Israeli flag. For nearly a year, Shtivi’s family clung to hope that he was still alive, before Israeli authorities informed them on the eve of the first anniversary of the attack that he had been killed. The student had tried to flee the scene with two wounded people he was attempting to rescue, but lost control of his car, which crashed into a tree. The car was found riddled with bullet holes. Ilan Weiss was buried in Kibbutz Beeri, in southern Israel near the border with Gaza, in the community he had died trying to defend from Hamas militants. His wife Shiri and daughter Noga, kidnapped at their home, were released in November 2023 during a first truce. The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday that Shtivi and Weiss’s bodies were recovered in a “complex rescue operation”. Some mourners expressed anger at the government for not reaching a deal with Hamas to end the fighting and return the remaining captives. “It is very, very infuriating that no one, no one from this government stands up and says enough,” said Ami Dagan, a mourner from Rishon Letzion. “It’s a horror, it’s profound sadness and grief beyond words to describe the anger, the insult to the hostages, the insult to the fallen, the insult to the soldiers sent once again to Gaza,” said Ruti Taro, another mourner. “No one knows why, except for the power-hungry ruler.” Many Israelis accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war for political purposes, and mass protests calling for a ceasefire and hostage release have increased in recent weeks. Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’ 2023 attack, 47 are still being held in Gaza, including 25 the military says are dead. Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 63,557 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable. Hospitals in Gaza said at least 31 people were killed by Israeli fire on Monday, more than half of them women and children. At least 13 people were killed in Gaza City, where Israel has carried out several previous large-scale raids since the start of the war. Israel says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militant group – now largely reduced to a guerilla organisation – operates in densely populated areas. Gaza City residents, many displaced by war multiple times, now face the twin threats of combat and hunger. The world’s leading authority on food crises said last month that it was in the throes of famine – a crisis driven by continuing fighting and Israel’s blockade, magnified by repeated mass displacement and the collapse of food production. The largest professional organisation of scholars studying genocide said on Monday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel, which was established in the wake of the Holocaust, in which 6 million European Jews and others were killed, vehemently rejects the allegation. It says it takes every measure to avoid harming civilians and is fighting a war of self-defence after Hamas’ October 7 attack, which Israel says was itself a genocidal act. A resolution from the International Association of Genocide Scholars – which has around 500 members worldwide, including a number of Holocaust experts – said “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide”, as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes. The resolution was supported by 86 per cent of those who voted. The organisation did not release the specifics of the voting. “People who are experts in the study of genocide can see this situation for what it is,” Melanie O’Brien, the organisation’s president and a professor of international law at the University of Western Australia, told Associated Press. The Israeli Foreign Ministry called it “an embarrassment to the legal profession and to any academic standard”. It said the determination was “entirely based on Hamas’ campaign of lies”. In July, two prominent Israeli rights groups – B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel – said that their country is committing genocide in Gaza. The organisations do not reflect mainstream thinking in Israel, but it marked the first time that local Jewish-led organisations have made such accusations. International human rights groups have also levelled the allegation. Additional reporting by Associated Press

Israel buries bodies of 2 hostages recovered from Gaza

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Family and friends mourn Idan Shtivi and Ilan Weiss, who were killed by Hamas on October 7, 2023

Family and friends mourn Idan Shtivi and Ilan Weiss, who were killed by Hamas on October 7, 2023