Greater than a fifth of the remaining hostages being held in Gaza are lifeless, in keeping with an inner evaluation carried out by the Israeli navy.
Israeli intelligence officers have concluded that not less than 32 of the remaining 136 hostages captured by Hamas and its allies on Oct. 7 have died because the begin of the warfare, in keeping with a confidential evaluation that was reviewed by The New York Instances. The households of the 32 hostages whose deaths are confirmed have been knowledgeable, in keeping with 4 navy officers who spoke anonymously with the intention to talk about a delicate matter.
The 4 officers mentioned that officers had been additionally assessing unconfirmed intelligence that indicated that not less than 20 different hostages might have additionally been killed.
The determine of 32 is greater than any earlier quantity the Israeli authorities have publicly disclosed of hostages who’re lifeless. In a solution to a request for remark, the Israeli navy mentioned that a lot of the lifeless had been killed on Oct. 7.
The information is prone to worsen a furor in Israel, the place a debate over the federal government’s plan of action in Gaza concerning the hostages has change into divisive.
Greater than 240 hostages had been captured by Hamas and its allies throughout the Oct. 7 Hamas-led raid on southern Israel, prompting Israel to retaliate with huge airstrikes after which a floor invasion.
Roughly half of the hostages have been freed, virtually all throughout a brief truce in November, after they had been exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails.
Since that truce, the Israeli authorities has mentioned that its navy operations in Gaza would pave the best way to additional hostage releases. Officers have argued that each Israeli navy success locations Hamas beneath extra stress to barter one other change, and makes the navy higher capable of rescue the remaining captives by drive.
However scores of survivors and households of the hostages have mentioned that the navy marketing campaign is endangering their family members’ lives. They need the federal government to make it a precedence to succeed in a brand new hostage deal as a substitute of urgent forward with the invasion, lest their kinfolk be killed in crossfire. Just one hostage has been freed by an Israeli military rescue operation. No less than three had been accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers.
Requested for remark, the Israeli navy mentioned in an announcement that it was “deploying all out there sources to find and retrieve as a lot data as potential concerning the hostages presently held by Hamas.”