Israeli soldiers recovered the body of a 53-year-old hostage in a tunnel in southern Gaza and the army was determining whether another set of remains belongs to the man’s son, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.
The discovery of Yosef AlZayadni’s body came as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining hostages and halt the fighting in Gaza.
Israel says about one-third of the remaining 100 hostages have died, but believes as many as half could be dead.
Photo: Reuters
Yosef and his son Hamzah AlZayadni were thought to still be alive before Wednesday’s announcement.
The military said it found evidence in the tunnel that raised “serious concerns” for the life of Hamzah AlZayadni, 23, suggesting that he might have died in captivity.
Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesman, said that the circumstances behind Yosef AlZayadni’s death were being investigated.
Yosef AlZayadni and three of his children were among 250 hostages taken captive after Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023, stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people.
He had 19 children and had worked for 17 years at the dairy farm of a kibbutz that was among the communities attacked, said the Hostages Families Forum, a group representing the relatives of captives.
Yosef AlZayadni’s teenage children, Bilal and Aisha, were released along with about 100 hostages in a week-long ceasefire in November 2023.
The bodies of about three dozen hostages have been recovered in Gaza and eight hostages have been rescued.
The Hostages Families Forum said that the ceasefire deal being negotiated “comes far too late for Yosef — who was taken alive and should have returned the same way.”
“Every day in captivity poses an immediate mortal danger to the hostages,” the group said.
Yosef AlZayadni’s name appeared on a list of 34 hostages shared by a Hamas official earlier this week, who the militant group said were slated for release.
Israel said this was a list it had submitted to mediators in July last year and that it has received nothing from Hamas.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is “very close” and he hopes “we can get it over the line” before handing over to the new US administration on Jan. 20.
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