Israel army says bodies of two hostages recovered in Gaza operation

The Israeli army said on Tuesday that it had recovered during an operation in Gaza the bodies of two hostages taken by Hamas in its October 7 attack.

Following a positive identification of the remains, authorities informed their families that the two “bodies had been recovered and returned to Israel,” the army said in a statement.

The army had previously confirmed that one of the hostages, soldier Ziv Dado, was killed on the day of the attack, but Israel considers those still held by Hamas to be hostages regardless of whether they are dead or alive.

The other hostage, Eden Zecharya, was taken by Hamas from the Supernova music festival near the Reim kibbutz.

Before the bodies of Dado and Zecharya were recovered, Israel said it believed 137 hostages were still in Hamas captivity.

A statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which has helped to coordinate relatives’ outreach efforts, said that Zecharya “was kidnapped while injured in the upper half of her body,” and that her boyfriend was murdered during the attack.

The army said that during the operation to recover the bodies, two soldiers “fell in battle and additional soldiers were injured.”

Another hostage, Sahar Baruch, was confirmed dead last week after a failed army rescue attempt that left two soldiers wounded.

Under a one-week truce deal that ended on December 1, 105 hostages were released from Gaza, among them 80 Israelis — mostly women and children — freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians jailed by Israel.

Efforts to revive the deal have stalled, and Hamas warned on Sunday that no more hostages would leave Gaza alive unless its demands for more prisoner releases were met.