news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

[global times special correspondent in egypt huang peizhao global times special correspondent zhen xiang] the israeli defense forces announced on september 1 that the six bodies found in the rafah tunnel in southern gaza the day before were israeli hostages held hostage by palestinian islamic resistance movement (hamas) militants in october 2023. they were "brutally murdered" before the israeli army arrived in the area. after the news was released, israeli society fell into anger. the hostages' families demanded that prime minister netanyahu take responsibility, and opposition leaders accused netanyahu of putting personal political interests above the lives of hostages. israeli defense minister galant also called on the government to withdraw its request to station troops on the border between gaza and egypt in order to reach a ceasefire agreement with hamas as soon as possible. hamas senior official rashik told the media on the 1st that the six hostages died in israeli bombing. according to the israeli newspaper haaretz, according to the recently negotiated ceasefire agreement in gaza, three of the six people were supposed to be released in the near future. amid anger from all walks of life, netanyahu apologized on the 1st, but said he would continue to "pursue and arrest" hamas militants and "avenge" the hostages.

'the whole country is heartbroken'

the israeli military issued a statement on the social platform x on the 1st, announcing the identities of the six hostages. they are 4 men and 2 women, aged between 23 and 25, and two are 32 and 40. the military said that except for one, the remaining five were taken away by hamas at a music festival in southern israel on october 7, 2023. the idf also stated that the six were killed a day or two before the israeli army found them.

the tragic news shocked israeli society. israeli president herzog issued a statement saying: "the whole country is heartbroken. on behalf of israel, i sincerely embrace their families and apologize for not being able to bring them home safely." the jerusalem post reported that netanyahu's office said that the prime minister said in a phone call with the hostages' families on the 1st: "i want to tell you that i am very sorry for not being able to bring them back alive, and i ask for forgiveness."