Arye Zalmanovitz, 85, is the oldest of the 240 hostages held by Hamas. Maya Goren, 56, a kindergarten teacher, and Ronen Engel, 54, whose wife and two daughters were also kidnapped but were returned to Israel earlier this week. Eliyahu Margalit, 75, whose daughter was released from Hamas custody on November 30.
All four hostages who died lived in the village of Nir Oz before being captured by Hamas in the October 7 raid.
Mr Hagari also said the Israeli military had brought home the body of a fifth hostage, identified as Ofir Tsarfati, who was kidnapped while attending a party in southern Israel, near the Gaza Strip, during a Hamas attack.
The Israeli military said Tsarfati's body was recently found in Gaza by soldiers and the Shin Bet internal security agency and brought to Israel for burial.
Four hostages were reported killed by Israel on December 1. Photo: Times of Israel
Hagari said Hamas was still holding 136 hostages, including 17 women and children. Israel has not confirmed a Hamas report earlier this week that the youngest family of hostages, Shiri, and her two young sons Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 10 months, had been killed.
According to Hamas, Shiri and her three children were killed in an Israeli bombing before the ceasefire began on November 24.
"They were supposed to return to Israel, but Hamas decided not to let that happen," Hagari said, referring to the week-long hostage swap deal in which 80 Israeli hostages were freed, mostly women and children.
Fighting continued after the ceasefire expired on December 1. The IDF announced that its divisions had launched new attacks in the Gaza Strip. Israeli infantry destroyed several mined structures, tunnels, rocket sites and other Hamas facilities.
Gaza health officials say 109 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the renewed fighting. More than 15,000 people have been killed in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, and at least 36,000 have been injured since the conflict began.
Huyen Le (According to AFP , Times of Israel )
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