Israel Army Finds Bodies Hostages; ‘Eliminates Islamic Commander’
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s military says its troops in Gaza have found the bodies of three Israeli hostages killed by Hamas during its October 7 attack in Israel, including German-Israeli Shani Louk.
A photo of 22-year-old Louk’s twisted body in the back of a pickup truck sent shockwaves around the world and highlighted the scale of the Hamas terror attacks on communities in southern Israel.
The military identified the other two bodies as those of a 28-year-old woman, Amit Buskila, and a 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter, officials said Friday.
Israel says they were among the roughly 100 hostages still held captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.
News about their death came as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that they “eliminated” a senior commander of the Jamaa Islamiya or Islamic Group in Lebanon.
IDF strikes reportedly killed Shurahbil Ali Alsayed in the area of Majdal Anjar in southern Lebanon.
TERROR ATTACKS
Shurahbil directed “many terror attacks” against Israel from Lebanon in cooperation with the Hamas wing in Lebanon and Hezbollah, military officials said.
However, after the killing, “hostile aircraft intrusion sirens” sounded three times within 40 minutes in communities in northern Israel on Saturday morning, The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported.
Israel’s government says despite pressure from Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups, it will continue the war against Hamas in Gaza to ensure that hostages will be returned.
The three found Friday were killed by Hamas on October 7 while fleeing the Nova music festival, an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border.
Hamas fighters killed hundreds of people in the area, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a news conference.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking,” saying, “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”
OVERNIGHT DISCOVERY
The military said the bodies were found overnight without elaborating and did not give immediate details on where they were located.
Israel has been operating in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it says it has intelligence that hostages are being held.
Hamas fighters killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted around 250 others in the October 7 attack.
Around half of those hostages have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
Israel’s war in Gaza since the attack has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza.
Netanyahu said some 16,000 civilians were killed, mainly because they were used as human shields by Hamas, while some 14,000 Hamas fighters died.
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