Bodies of two hostages recovered from Gaza, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu says
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the bodies of two hostages have been recovered from Gaza by the military and the domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet.
Netanyahu said in a statement on Wednesday, local time, that the body of hostage Yair Yaakov had been retrieved, along with that of another whose identity has not been cleared for publication.
The Israeli military said militants from the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad abducted and killed Mr Yaakov during the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on southern Israel.
Militants also took Mr Yaakov's partner, Meirav Tal, and two of his children, Or and Yagil, hostage but later released them, the military said.
Mr Yaakov was 59 at the time of his death.
The military said it notified the family of the second hostage whose body it recovered, adding that it retrieved the bodies in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the bodies were retrieved in a "complex" operation without disclosing details.
There are 53 hostages still being held in Gaza, with fewer than half believed to be alive.
The latest recovery brings to five the number of hostage bodies retrieved by Israeli forces so far this month.
Hamas and other militants from Gaza abducted 251 people during the 2023 attack in which about 1,200 people in Israel were killed.
"Along with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our deepest condolences to the families who have lost their most precious loved ones," Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.
Israel's retaliatory war against Hamas in Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The Gaza Health Ministry doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said that women and children make up more than half the dead.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians, because they operate in populated areas.
The ministry says 55,104 people have been killed since the start of the war and 127,394 wounded.
Many more are believed to be buried under the rubble or in areas that are inaccessible to local medics.
The Health Ministry is part of Gaza's Hamas-run government, but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records.
Its tolls from previous conflicts have largely aligned with those of independent experts, though Israel has questioned the ministry's figures.
Israeli forces have destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced about 90 per cent of its population and in recent weeks have transformed more than half of the coastal territory into a military buffer zone that includes the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah.
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