Israel announced on Sunday that its troops had found six dead hostages in a Gaza tunnel, while Israeli police said three officers were killed in a “shooting attack” in the occupied West Bank.
The deadly shooting near Hebron added to escalating violence in the West Bank, which is separated from Gaza by Israeli territory and where Israel has waged a large-scale military operation since Wednesday, sparking international concern.
In the besieged Gaza Strip, a “humanitarian pause” in the nearly 11-month-long war between Israel and Hamas was called to allow a mass polio vaccination campaign to begin, a health official told AFP.
The Israeli military said the remains of six hostages were recovered on Saturday “from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area” of southern Gaza and had been formally identified in Israel.
They include Carmel Gat, who was captured from a kibbutz community near the Gaza border, as well as Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarousi, Ori Danino, American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Russian-Israeli Alexander Lobanov, who was captured by Palestinian terrorists from a concert venue.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said all six men were “abducted alive on the morning of October 7” and “cruelly murdered by Hamas terrorists shortly before our arrival”.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was “shocked and angered” by their deaths but told reporters he was “still optimistic” a deal could be reached for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages.
“It is time for this war to end,” Biden said. Biden’s administration has been involved in ceasefire mediation efforts with Qatar and Egypt.
The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said he was “appalled by the murder” of the hostages, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed shock at their “senseless” killing.
The six were among 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s October 7 offensive that kicked off the ongoing war, of whom 97 remain held in Gaza, 33 dead, according to the military. Many were released during a week-long truce in November.
Campaign group Hostage and Missing Families Forum said a negotiated settlement for the return of the hostages was urgently needed.
“If there had not been months of delays, sabotage and excuses” during mediation efforts, the six hostages “would likely still be alive”.
The families have called for a nationwide general strike from Sunday night to pressurise the government to reach a deal to secure the release of those still held hostage.
A senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that “some” of the six had been “approved” for release under a possible hostage-prisoner swap that has yet to be agreed.
‘Request a pardon’
Critics in Israel have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war for political gain.
Speaking to Lobanov’s parents on Sunday, Netanyahu said: “I want to tell you how sorry I am that I was not able to bring Sasha back alive, and I ask for your forgiveness.”
Qatar-based Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said six people were “killed in Zionist (Israeli) bombing”, although the army denied the allegation.
Netanyahu blamed Hamas leaders, “who kill hostages and do not want a settlement”, and vowed to “settle scores” with them.
Hamas attacks on October 7 killed 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli official figures.
Israeli attacks have killed at least 40,738 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
The fighting has devastated Gaza, repeatedly displacing most of its 2.4 million people and creating a humanitarian crisis. Water, sanitation and medical facilities have been devastated, contributing to the spread of preventable diseases.
Vaccinations began on Saturday ahead of a wider campaign, a Gaza health official said, after polio was detected for the first time in 25 years.
The World Health Organization has said Israel has agreed to a series of three-day “humanitarian breaks” to facilitate the campaign, which aims to reach some 640,000 children.
It was formally launched on Sunday at three health centers in central Gaza, said Yasser Shaban, director of al-Awda hospital.
“We hope this vaccination campaign for children will be peaceful,” Shaban said, adding that there were “a lot of drones” flying overhead.
Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, later said about 2,000 children were vaccinated on Sunday.
But he also said he was worried about what would happen next: “If the bombing continues after 2pm it will definitely affect the vaccination campaign… The only way out is a ceasefire.”
Wateridge later reported attacks in the Nuseirat area.
The civil protection agency said Israeli air strikes killed two people in Gaza City in the north, where an AFP correspondent also reported shelling on Sunday morning.
West Coast violence
Israeli forces and Palestinian militants clashed in the West Bank on Sunday, the latest in five days of heavily coordinated raids that the Israeli military has described as an “anti-terrorism” operation.
Israel’s emergency medical service said three people were killed in a “shooting attack” near the Tarqumiya checkpoint in the Hebron area of the southern West Bank on Sunday. Police said they were all members of the police force.
The army said that multiple attackers may have been involved.
In the northern West Bank, an AFP photographer saw Israeli bulldozers in the city centre of Jenin, a day after a local official said troops had destroyed most roads and cut off electricity and water supplies to a nearby refugee camp.
At least 22 Palestinians have been killed so far since simultaneous raids began in the northern West Bank on Wednesday, 14 of them claimed by activist groups.
A 20-year-old soldier died on Saturday.
At least 637 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since the Gaza war began, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
According to official figures, 23 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed during Palestinian attacks or military operations during the same period.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
