Gaza war: Three Hamas hostages probably killed by Israeli air strike in December

The Russian armed forces have admitted that three hostages found dead in the Gaza Strip last December were “with high probability” killed in an Israeli air strike. The military announced this on Sunday after completing an internal investigation.

According to the report, the three were probably killed in November. The high-ranking Hamas extremist Ahmed Ghandur was also killed in the airstrike. It is not possible to definitively determine the circumstances of their deaths. However, the location where the bodies were found, forensic reports and other information make it highly likely that the airstrike was the cause of their deaths, it was said.

The report could increase pressure on the government to finally reach an agreement with Hamas on the release of the remaining hostages and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

In view of the lack of progress in the indirect negotiations on a ceasefire in the Gaza war and the release of hostages held by the radical Islamist Hamas, thousands of people in Israel have once again taken to the streets. There were demonstrations in several cities.

Meanwhile, according to the Israeli army, a rocket fired from Yemen hit central Israel. The missile landed in an uninhabited area and there are no reports of its final location.

In Tel Aviv, a half-minute audio recording of an Israeli soldier that was recently found in the Gaza Strip was played in the evening. It was the first sign of life for the family. In the recording, the soldier asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an exchange of Hamas prisoners in Jewish prisons in return for Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.

The demonstration in Tel Aviv was held under the motto: “We will not abandon them – we will not give up.” On posters, demonstrators demanded, for example, “Bring them back home,” and on another poster stand: “Get them out of hell.” 101 of the hostages kidnapped in the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023 are still in the Gaza Strip. It is unknown how many of them are still alive, almost a year after their abduction.

Michal Lobanov, the widow of one of the hostages killed two weeks ago, spoke of her shock after the release of a military video about the living conditions in the tunnel near Rafah where the bodies of the six killed hostages were. “It was possible to save them through an agreement,” she stressed. She does not want pity, but demands “that you do everything so that the end is different for other women, for the hostages.”

The indirect negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages – in which Egypt, the USA and the Gulf state of Qatar are the main mediators – are currently at a standstill.

At least eleven dead in Gaza, attacks in Lebanon

Meanwhile, at least eleven people were killed in an air strike in the city of Gaza attributed to Israel, according to Palestinian sources. Among the victims were four minors and three women, hospital doctors in Gaza said. The missile hit the house of a family in the Tuffah district. The information could not be independently verified at first. The military in question did not initially comment on the incident.

According to an army spokesman, the Jewish air force also attacked several weapons depots belonging to the Hezbollah militia in the interior of Lebanon in the evening. The attacks were carried out in the Bekaa Valley and the city of Baalbek, about 140 kilometers from the border, it was said. The area is considered a Hezbollah stronghold. In addition, a Hezbollah weapons depot was attacked in seven different locations in southern Lebanon.

Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Islamist Hamas almost a year ago, there have been almost daily military confrontations between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in the border region between the two countries. There have been deaths on both sides – most of them were members of Hezbollah. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas.

The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre with more than 1,200 deaths that terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other groups carried out in Israel on October 7. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 41,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began. The figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.