Israeli troops discovered the bodies of three additional hostages overnight in Jabalia, a northern city in Gaza that IDF troops had previously pulled out of.
42-year-old Hanan Yablonka, 30-year-old Orión Hernández Radoux, and 59-year-old Michel Nisenbaum were believed to have been killed on Oct. 7th, and their bodies have been held by Hamas for the last seven months.
Last week, troops discovered the bodies of Shani Louk, 22, Amit Buskila, 28, and Itzhak Gelerenter, 56.
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Israeli Military Finds Bodies of Three Hostages
Jabalia Refugee Camp is a refugee camp close to the city, founded by the U.N. in 1948. It now has more than 100,000 inhabitants. The IDF claims Hamas has created a stronghold in the camp. The U.N. has been criticized for its lack of oversight in its Gazan aid programs that include resources, buildings, and staff that have been found linked to Hamas. The IDF had recently pulled out of the area but has returned based on reports that Hamas has begun to regroup there.
Orión Hernández Radoux was the boyfriend of Shani Louk, a Nova music festival goer whose distorted body was paraded by Hamas on Oct. 7th in one of the most memorable and tragic images of the conflict. He was a father of one and a French-Mexican citizen.
Michel Nisenbaum was a grandfather of six who was on his way to pick up his 4-year-old granddaughter when he was murdered.
Hanan Yablonka had two children, ages 12 and 9, and was with four other friends who also were killed by militants.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement offering his condolences:
"Together with the citizens of Israel, my wife Sara and I bow our heads in deep sorrow, and embrace the grieving families in their difficult time. We have a national and moral duty to do everything in our power to return our abducted - the lives and the spaces - and that is what we are doing," he wrote.
Netanyahu has been criticized on all fronts for his war efforts. He has been pressured internationally to be less aggressive in his pursuit of defeating Hamas and returning the hostages. He has determined that he will achieve this victory at any cost. Internally, in Israel, many of the hostage families want to see a deal made to bring their loved ones home as well at any cost – even if that means ending the war. Within Netanyahu’s government, some of his far-right members have threatened retaliation if he allows a hostage deal that would cause the war efforts of defeating Hamas to suffer.
The only closure for the nation of Israel and the families of the hostages will be for the war efforts to succeed, Hamas to be defeated, and the hostages to be returned home.
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