Hostages found in Gaza were killed hours before the arrival of Israeli troops

The Israeli Ministry of Health reported this Sunday (01.09.2024) that The hostages found dead last night in a Gaza tunnel were killed between Thursday and Fridayaccording to the autopsy results. “The six hostages were killed by Hamas terrorists with several shots fired at close range,” said spokeswoman Shira Solomon in a statement.

Israel’s National Institute of Forensic Medicine thus contradicts Hamasconsidered a terrorist organization by Israel and other countries, including Germany and the United States. The Islamist group claimed that they died as a result of the bombings. It also said that some of them were going to be released. “According to the forensic examination, it is estimated that the deaths of the hostages occurred approximately between 48 and 72 hours before their examination (between Thursday and early Friday),” the statement said.

This Sunday, The Israeli army confirmed that the bodies recovered last night from a tunnel in southern Gaza correspond to those of six hostagesand were taken to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine to determine the cause of death. They are four men and two women: Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, the American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino and Alexander Lobanov, all of them kidnapped by Hamas in its attack on October 7, which left a total of 1,200 dead and 251 kidnapped.

Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that The six hostages were reportedly killed by Hamas shortly before forces reached them.But Hamas on Sunday blamed Israel and its main partner and arms supplier, the United States, for the hostages’ deaths, saying they were killed by Israeli “bombing.” There are currently 97 hostages in Gaza, of whom a third are believed to have died.

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