Who are the three Israeli hostages, whose bodies have been recovered in Gaza?

Israel announced it has recovered the bodies of three people killed in the 7 October Hamas-led attack that initiated the Gaza Strip invasion.

IDF’s Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israel’s top military spokesperson, identified the three as Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, and Yitzhak Gelernter on Friday. He stated they were killed by Palestinian militants during an attack on a music festival in southern Israel, and their bodies were taken into Gaza.

Israel reports that over 130 hostages remain in Gaza, with a quarter believed to be dead. The 7 October attack saw over 240 people taken hostage when hundreds of Palestinian militants breached Gaza’s border fencing and attacked Israeli communities and the nearby music festival. The ensuing war has resulted in over 35,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and has devastated the Gaza Strip.

What do we know about the hostages?

All three recovered hostages were at the Nova music festival when they were killed. Hundreds were gunned down at the event, while militants also attacked towns and villages near the Gaza border, marking the bloodiest day in Israel’s history.

Hagari did not specify where the bodies were found, but Haaretz reported that the Israeli military and Shin Bet, Israel’s intelligence agency conducted a joint operation to retrieve them.

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Authorities had already confirmed the death of Shani Louk, an Israeli-German citizen, in October after finding a bone fragment from her skull.

“She was a beautiful, lively person,” Ricarda Louk, Shani’s mother, had told CNN at the time, a day after her death was confirmed. “She just enjoyed laughing, and experiencing life, and so it was just cut too short.”

The photo of 22-year-old Louk’s twisted body in the back of a pickup truck had circulated widely, highlighting the scale of the militants’ attack on southern Israeli communities.

Nissim Louk, father of Shani, told Israeli media his daughter’s body was very well preserved because it had been kept in a “deep and very cold tunnel.”

“They were celebrating life in the Nova music festival and they were murdered by Hamas,” he said.

Yitzhak Gelernter’s daughter, Yarden Pivko, learned of her 57-year-old father’s fate only when authorities notified her of his body’s recovery, as reported by Israel’s Channel 12 News. “We held on to hope and had a lot of faith that the end would be different,” she said.

Amit Buskila, 28, was on the phone with her uncle during the attack, hiding from gunmen behind cars at the festival. Her uncle heard her begging for her life before gunshots rang out, according to the Times of Israel.

How has Netanyahu reacted?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the deaths as “heartbreaking,” adding, “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”

He stated, “The heart breaks for such a big loss. My wife Sarah and I are hurting with the families. All our hearts are with them in their time of heavy grief.”

הלב נשבר על האובדן הגדול. רעייתי שרה ואני דואבים עם המשפחות. לב כולנו איתן בשעת יגונן הכבד.

נחזיר את כל חטופינו, החיים והחללים כאחד.

אני מברך את כוחותינו האמיצים שבפעולה נחושה השיבו בנים ובנות לגבולם.

— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 17, 2024

Hamas-led militants killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 others in the 7 October attack. About half of those hostages have been released, mostly in exchanges for Palestinian prisoners during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

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Israel reports that around 100 hostages are still held in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more. The war in Gaza has resulted in over 35,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza health officials.

Netanyahu has pledged to both eliminate Hamas and retrieve all the hostages but has made limited progress. The US has threatened to reduce its support due to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza .

Thousands of Israelis protested last weekend, demanding a deal to bring the remaining hostages home, new elections, and Netanyahu’s resignation . More protests are expected this weekend in Tel Aviv.

Israeli opinion is split between those who want the government to pause the war to free the hostages and those who see the hostages as an unfortunate cost of eradicating Hamas. Negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States, and Egypt have made little headway.

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Israel has been operating in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where it believes hostages are being held.

With inputs from agencies