Israel announces that it has recovered the body of a hostage during the night from Friday to Saturday, in the south of the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli army, this hostage, kidnapped on October 7, was murdered during his captivity. Pressure from families is increasing on the Israeli government, which is sending a delegation to Cairo to try to finalize a truce and prisoner exchange agreement.
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The Israeli army announced late this morning that it had found the body of a hostage. This is Elad Katzir, aged 47 on the day of his kidnapping in the kibbutz of Nir Oz, reports our correspondent in Jerusalem, Michael Paul. According to the Israeli military, the latter was killed by his captors – members of Islamic Jihad. His body was found in Khan Younes by special forces, it is said.
His mother, Hanna, was kidnapped with him before being released on November 24, during the only truce in six months of war between Israel and Hamas. His father Avraham was killed during the Hamas attack on October 7.
An Israeli military official said the repatriation of Elad Katzir’s body was ” more than a mission accomplished, the promise kept to the Israelis to restore security and bring back » the hostages in Israel. But his sister, Carmit, does not hide his anger: “ If an agreement had been reached earlier, he could have been recovered alive “, she deplores while accusing the Israeli government of “ cowardice “. “ Look in the mirror and see if your hands haven’t drawn his blood », she writes again on her Facebook account.
The Hostage Families Forum also regretted that he spent three months in captivity, “ during which signs of life and information about his situation reached Israel. Three months during which there was a possibility of saving him and returning him alive to his family and his country », Estimated in a press release this association representing some of the families of hostages.
Elad Katzir’s death dates back to mid-January, a few days after Islamic Jihad released a video in which he called on the Israeli government to do everything to secure his release, an Israeli military official said.
The body was located on “ information “, ” buried in the ground » in the south of Khan Younès, where an operation was launched Friday evening to recover him. Israeli forces exhumed him overnight before repatriating him to Israel, where he was formally identified.
More than 250 people were kidnapped during the October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel and taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Gazawhere 129 are still detained, among whom, according to the Israeli army, more than 30 are dead.
Negotiations in Egypt
It is in this context, at the request of American President Joe Biden, that the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, and that of the Shin Bet, Israeli internal security, are going to Cairo this Saturday for a meeting with the head of the CIA , Bill Burns, and other players in mediation between Israel and Hamas, including Egyptian and Qatari officials. An intelligence summit in the Egyptian capital which could ultimately make it possible to unblock the negotiation and achieve a truce associated with a release of hostages in the Gaza Strip, ravaged by a devastating war which enters its seventh month this Sunday.
Also listenIsrael-Hamas war: “Hope for peace is very far away”
Triggered by the unprecedented attack on October 7 in Israel, the Jewish state’s military offensive left at least 33,100 dead, according to the Palestinian Islamist movement’s Ministry of Health. The majority of the territory’s 2.4 million inhabitants are threatened with famine according to the UN.
Joe Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “ to reach a hostage deal » Israelis kidnapped during the Hamas attack. He also asked Qatar and Egypt, the mediators with the United States, “ to obtain from Hamas a commitment to accept an agreement “, said a senior American official on condition of anonymity. According to him, “ there would be a ceasefire in Gaza today if Hamas had agreed to release the vulnerable category of hostages – sick, wounded, elderly and young women “.
In a statement announcing the departure of a Hamas delegation on Sunday from Cairo, the movement affirmed that it will not renounce its ” requirements “, to know ” a complete ceasefire, a withdrawal of the occupying forces from Gaza, a return of the displaced, freedom of movement and aid (to the population) and a serious hostage exchange agreement » and Palestinian prisoners.
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