Israel Says It Has Recovered More Bodies in Gaza

[Pelican Press 0]

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******* Says It Has Recovered More Bodies in Gaza

The ******** military said on Saturday that it had found a number of ***** bodies during an operation in the Gaza Strip, asking the ******** public to refrain from speculation about their identities.

The announcement was widely interpreted in *******, however, as confirmation that more ******** hostages had ***** in captivity, and it quickly amplified calls for an immediate cease-***** in order to free the roughly 100 captives still held, both ***** and alive, in Gaza.

Roughly 250 people were captured by ****** and its allies during their Oct. 7 ******* on *******, which started the war.

The military said in a statement on Saturday that the recently found bodies had yet to be identified and brought to *******. It did not give further details about how many bodies had been found or where they were discovered, and it would not officially confirm that they were hostages.

Still, the news of the discovery accelerated an increasingly rancorous debate within ******** society about whether ******* should soften its position during negotiations with ****** for a cease-*****. Under the terms currently being negotiated, scores of hostages would be released from captivity in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians detained in *******.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of ******* is holding out for a deal in which the country would be able to retain control of strategic parts of Gaza during the cease-***** and restart the war in the future.

That position has angered Israelis who want their leaders to swiftly agree to a deal in order to accelerate the hostages’ release. For months, the families and supporters of the hostages have said that the prolonged negotiations had made it more likely that their relatives would be ******* in captivity.

Minutes after the military’s announcement, an umbrella group representing the families of the hostages said in a statement: “Netanyahu abandoned the hostages! This is now a fact.” The statement also called on the public to prepare for new demonstrations starting as soon as Sunday.

More than 100 hostages were freed in an earlier cease-***** in November, while eight have been rescued alive during ******** rescue operations that have cost the lives of scores of Palestinians. The bodies of several others have also been found and repatriated by the ******** military. Three were shot and ******* in December, after waving a white flag, by ******** soldiers.

But roughly 100 others are still held in Gaza, about two-thirds of whom are believed to be alive. Mr. Netanyahu’s critics say he is putting those surviving hostages at risk by dragging out the negotiations. Mr. Netanyahu and his allies say that a bad deal would endanger *******’s long-term security.

President Biden on Saturday evening commented on the ******** military’s discovery of the bodies in Gaza, but said he did not know the exact number, nor whether the ***** were hostages.

There’s a lot of speculation about who they are,” Mr. Biden told reporters, adding that he was “not at liberty to do that at this moment.”

Eight U.S. citizens are among the captives in Gaza, and the ******* States has sought for months, with Egypt and Qatar, to broker a deal to halt the fighting and exchange hostages and detained Palestinians. Mr. Biden said he was optimistic about those talks, although diplomats have struggled in repeated rounds of talks to settle major disagreements between the parties.

Ronen Bergman and Aishvarya Kavi contributed reporting.

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