Hamas hostages in Gaza: Israel’s army recovers dead Bedouin member

Israel’s army says it has recovered another body of a hostage in the Gaza Strip. A military spokesman said it was an Arab Israeli aged 53. There were also discoveries of his son, who was also kidnapped by Islamists, which raised “serious concerns” as to whether he was still alive. The young man is reportedly 22 years old. Until now, it was assumed in Israel that father and son were still alive.

Israeli media initially reported, citing relatives, that father and son had been found dead. Foreign Minister Israel Katz also wrote that the son’s body had also been found.

The father’s body was found in a tunnel in the Rafah area on Tuesday, according to the army. It was said that he was killed in captivity by the extremists.

Both men were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 during the Hamas massacre. Two of the 53-year-old’s other children were also kidnapped at the time. The teenagers were released in November 2023 as part of an agreement between Hamas and Israel.

The four worked in a kibbutz near the Gaza border during the terrorist attack. The family belongs to a Bedouin community. Arabs make up around 20 percent of the almost ten million inhabitants of Israel. The Bedouins, in turn, belong to the Arab minority in Israel; their number is estimated at around 250,000 nationwide. Many of them serve in the Israeli army.

An army spokesman emphasized that dozens of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip were still alive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his condolences to the relatives in light of the “bitter news,” his office said. He emphasized that Israel had brought the two kidnapped young family members home and also wanted to get the two men back.

President Izchak Herzog spoke of an “immense tragedy” for the family, which was also deeply concerned about the fate of the son of the man killed. “Our hostages are in imminent mortal danger. We must continue to do everything possible to urgently bring back 99 of our brothers and sisters,” said Herzog.

In total, Palestinian terrorists kidnapped more than 250 people from Israel to the coastal area on October 7, 2023. The army has already recovered the bodies of hostages in the Gaza Strip on several occasions.