The Israeli army estimated in a statement on Friday that “the majority of hostages” kidnapped by Hamas during its October 7 attack were “alive”.
“Of the approximately 200 hostages currently in the Gaza Strip, more than 20 of them are minors, between 10 and 20 of them are over 60 years old, the majority of the hostages are alive,” he said. indicated the spokesperson who did not give further details on this point.
According to the same source, corpses were also taken to the Gaza Strip by Palestinian Islamists during their bloody attack launched at dawn on October 7 on Israeli soil on the edge of the Gaza Strip.
Furthermore, 100 to 200 Israelis are now considered “missing” since the attack, compared to the 3,000 counted on the first day of the war. “That number has decreased significantly” as the military has confirmed their locations.
“At present, the Israeli army is still carrying out operations to find and locate the bodies near the Gaza Strip,” the spokesperson said.
More than 1,400 people have been killed on Israeli territory by Hamas men since October 7, the majority of civilians mowed down by bullets, burned alive or dead from mutilations on the first day of the attack by fighters of the Palestinian Islamist movement carried out in from Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
According to the Israeli army, around 1,500 Hamas fighters were killed in the counter-offensive which allowed Israel to regain control of the attacked areas.
In the Gaza Strip, more than 3,700 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in incessant bombings carried out in retaliation by the Israeli army, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health in Gaza.