- This story is breaking down, there will be more to follow.
The IDF has found the bodies of three hostages, including Nova festival-goer Shani Louk from the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military, which also found the bodies of Itzhak Gelerenter and Amit Buskila, said they were recovered during a nighttime operation conducted with Shin Bet, an Israeli intelligence agency, although it did not share details about where their bodies were found.
The three attended the Nova Festival near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, one of the first sites attacked by Hamas in its deadly incursion into Israel. Daniel Hagari and IDF spokesman said all their families have been notified of their deaths, confirmed after formal identification.
Images of Shani, 22, appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world after video footage emerged of Hamas displaying her half-naked body in the back of a truck on October 7.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the death of the three revelers “heartbreaking” and added: “We will return all our hostages, both the living and the dead.”
Images of Shani, 22, (pictured) appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world after video footage emerged of Hamas displaying her half-naked body in the back of a truck on October 7. .
The IDF has been largely operating in and around Rafah, the last standing city in the Gaza Strip, and has claimed that intelligence suggests there are hostages there.
Hamas killed about 1,200 people, almost all of them civilians, and kidnapped about 250 people on October 7.
Since then, about half have been freed in exchanges for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a week-long ceasefire in November.
Israel says there are around 100 more hostages still alive somewhere in Gaza, along with the bodies of 30 more.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza since the attack has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
More to follow.