The Israeli army announced Tuesday that a soldier, counted as one of the hostages taken to the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the attack carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel, had been killed that day.
On its website, the army indicates, without giving further details, that this 19-year-old soldier, Itay Hen, “fell” in combat on October 7 and was taken to Gaza “by a terrorist organization”.
32 hostages dead, 130 still held in Gaza
In a statement, the Families Forum, an association of hostage families, specified that this soldier was assigned “to the border between Gaza” and Israel and had been “taken hostage” on October 7.
“Itay's body is still being held by Hamas” in the Gaza Strip, this association added.
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Itay Hen was on the list of people kidnapped in southern Israel during the Hamas attack that left at least 1,160 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally. from official Israeli sources.
The confirmation of his death brings to 32 the number of hostages who are believed to have died, according to Israeli authorities, out of a total of 130 still held in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas does not know who is “alive or dead” among the hostages
In total, around 250 Israelis and foreigners were kidnapped and taken to Gaza on October 7.
At the end of November, a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas allowed the release of 105 people in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
According to Israeli media, Israel demands, as part of current discussions around a new truce, that Hamas provide a precise list of hostages still alive but the Palestinian movement said it did not know who was “alive or dead” among them.
In retaliation for the October 7 attack, Israel launched a military offensive that has so far killed 31,184 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.