Israeli forces retrieved the remains of five Israelis who were killed during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7 last year, the military said yesterday.
The bodies of Maya Goren, as well as soldiers Tomer Ahimas and Kiril Brodski, along with Ravid Aryeh Katz and Oren Goldin — military reservists — had been returned to Israel following a rescue operation after they were kidnapped in Israel and taken to the Gaza Strip, the military said.
The five had previously been announced dead, and the military and an Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, said that they had all been killed by Palestinian militants on the day of the attack.
Photo: AFP
The military said the soldiers were killed in combat while fighting the militants.
The attack by Hamas militants on that day resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom remain in Gaza, including 39 that the military says are dead.
The five bodies were recovered on Wednesday during an operation in Khan Yunis, the main city in the south of the Gaza Strip, the military said, more than nine months into the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.
The military did not provide details, but said that the intelligence gathered prior to the rescue mission included information provided by arrested militants.
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said in a statement that the military “will continue fighting Hamas until its defeat.”
In Washington on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged in a speech to the US Congress to achieve “total victory” against Hamas and called opponents of the war in Gaza “useful idiots.”
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers boycotted the address and thousands of protesters outside the Capitol condemned the war.
Some of the protests near the Capitol turned violent, with police officers clashing with demonstrators, statues spray-painted and US flags replaced with Palestinian ones.
Netanyahu said that the US has a shared interest in his country’s fight against Hamas and other armed groups.
“America and Israel must stand together. When we stand together something really simple happens: We win, they lose,” he said.
He derided those protesting the war in the US, gesturing to demonstrations happening on the streets outside the Capitol.
He called protesters “useful idiots” for Israel’s adversaries.
US Representative Rashida Tlaib held a sign that said “War criminal” on one side and “Guilty of genocide” on the other.
Tlaib has relatives in the West Bank.
Netanyahu was scheduled to speak with US President Joe Biden yesterday and former US president Donald Trump today.
Additional reporting by AP
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