(Bloomberg) -- Israel recovered the bodies of six male hostages who had been held in the Gaza Strip.
The bodies were recovered by troops from Hamas tunnels near the city of Khan Younis in a “complex operation,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.
The Israeli military and Shin Bet said the operation took place overnight.
One of them was 79-year-old Avraham Munder, who the main forum for families of hostages earlier said had been murdered by Hamas in captivity. The five others were Yagev Buchshtab, age 35, Alexander Dancyg, 75, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Haim Perry, 80, the forum said.
“Our hearts ache for the terrible loss,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel will continue to make every effort to return all our hostages — both living and dead.”
Fighters from Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union, swarmed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostage. About 100 of those captives were released during a week-long cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in late November.
Of the remaining captives, at least 40 are thought by Israeli authorities to be dead.
The US is pushing for another truce between Hamas and Israel that it hopes will lead to all the hostages still in Gaza being freed.
Israel’s offensive on Gaza has killed almost 40,000 people, according to health officials in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.
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(Updates with defense minister’s comment on bodies being recovered from tunnels.)
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