Israeli forces retrieve remains of three captives in Gaza

The Israeli military recovered the bodies of three Israelis who were killed by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack and had their corpses brought back to Gaza.

The Israeli military recovered the bodies of Yitzhak Gelernter, 58, Shani Louk, 22, and Amit Bouskila, 28, in an overnight raid conducted by the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet, or the Israel Security Agency. All three of them attended the Nova music festival on the morning of Oct. 7 and were among the hundreds of people killed at it.

“Heartbroken for the great loss. My wife Sara and I grieve with the families,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X. “The hearts of all of us are strong. … We will return all our abductees. … I congratulate our brave forces who, with determined action, returned boys and girls to their border.”

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Of the three hostages whose bodies were recovered, Louk was the only one whose death had previously been confirmed. A video of her lifeless body in the back of a Hamas truck became a symbol of the Oct. 7 attacks that left roughly 1,200 people dead.

Hamas, during the Oct. 7 attack, also kidnapped roughly 250 people and brought them back to Gaza. Slightly more than a hundred hostages were freed during a weeklong ceasefire deal in November, but the IDF believes there are roughly 130 hostages still held.

The IDF said on X, “We will continue operating to bring all of our hostages home.”

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It’s unknown how many of the remaining hostages are still alive, though Hamas has released infrequent propaganda videos featuring some of them.

The U.S., Qatari, and Egyptian governments have sought for months to get Israel and Hamas to agree to another ceasefire deal, but they have been unsuccessful. At times, it appeared as though the sides were closing in on an agreement, but negotiations continued to stall before any deal was reached.