The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it has recovered another body of an enemy in the Gaza Strip.
A 53-year-old Israeli Arab was taken out after he was found dead in a tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza on Tuesday, according to a military spokesman, who said he had been killed there the captivity.
Findings relating to a 22-year-old man, who was also abducted, raise “deep concern” for his life as well, the spokesman said.
Israel had previously assumed that both were still alive.
The two were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, when Hamas forces attacked Israel from Gaza. In addition to killing about 1,200 people, the Palestinian Islamic group kidnapped about 250 people.
Two other children of the 53-year-old were also kidnapped that day.
The teenagers were released in November 2023 as part of an agreement between Hamas and Israel. The four were working in a kibbutz near the border with the Gaza Strip when the attack happened. The family belongs to the Bedouin community.
The Bedouins belong to the Arab minority in Israel, and it is estimated that their number is around 250,000 throughout the country. Many of them serve in the Israeli army.
An army spokesman confirmed that dozens of the guards still being held in the Gaza Strip are still alive.
Hamas authorities: 51 killed in Gaza in the past day
At least 51 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-controlled health authority said on Wednesday.
The authority also said that 78 people were injured in the past day.
At the same time, the Israeli army said that three of its soldiers were killed in fighting in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
According to military sources, the soldiers died in the same incident. However, the army initially did not provide any further details.
Much of the Gaza Strip has since been depopulated amid the fighting and more than 45,900 people have been killed according to Palestinian estimates.
Three people were killed on the West Bank, including children
Two children were among three Palestinians killed in an Israeli drone strike in the West Bank, Palestinian media reported Wednesday.
The Israeli military said only that a “terrorist cell” was attacked near the town of Tamun. A separate military spokesman said reports of children being killed are being investigated.
The Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said the dead were children aged 9 and 10, as well as a 23-year-old.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ramallah accused Israel of committing a “terrible crime”.
The already tense situation in the West Bank has worsened significantly since the assassination of Hamas in Israel and the subsequent Gaza war.
