Israel says it has recovered the bodies of 2 Israeli-American hostages from the Gaza Strip

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains of Judith Weinstein and Gad Haggai were recovered and returned to Israel in a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency.

“Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the dear families. Our hearts ache for the most terrible loss. May their memory be blessed,” he said in a statement.

Kibbutz Nir Oz announced the deaths of Weinstein, 70, and Haggai, 72, both of whom had Israeli and U.S. citizenship, in December 2023. Weinstein was also a Canadian citizen.

The military said they were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack and taken into Gaza by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that it said had also abducted and killed Shiri Bibas and her two small children. The army said it recovered the remains of Weinstein and Haggai overnight into Thursday from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The couple were taking an early morning walk near their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists stormed across the border and rampaged through several army bases and farming communities.

In the early hours of the morning, Weinstein was able to call emergency services and let them know that both she and her husband had been shot, and send a message to her family.

Weinstein was born in New York and taught English to children with special needs at Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small community near the Gaza border. The kibbutz said she also taught meditation techniques to children and teenagers who suffered from anxiety as a result of rocket fire from Gaza. Haggai was a retired chef and jazz musician.

“My beautiful parents have been freed. We have certainty,” their daughter, Iris Haggai Liniado, wrote in a Facebook post. She thanked the Israeli military, the FBI and the Israeli and U.S. governments and called for the release of all the remaining hostages.

The couple were survived by two sons, two daughters and seven grandchildren, the kibbutz said.

Deadly strikes in Khan Younis

At least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis overnight, according to Nasser Hospital. It was not immediately clear if the strikes were related to the recovery mission.

In Gaza City, three local reporters were killed and six people were wounded in a strike on the courtyard of the al-Ahli Hospital, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. It did not immediately identify the journalists or say which outlets they worked for.

The Israeli military said it struck an Islamic Jihad terrorist operating in the courtyard. The army says it only targets terrorists and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it is embedded in populated areas.

Over 180 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the vast majority of them in Gaza, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel has said many of those killed in its strikes were terrorists posing as reporters.

Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and abducted 251 hostages. They are still holding 56 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages from Gaza and recovered dozens of bodies.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.

Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel has “activated” some clans of Palestinians in Gaza in the fight against Hamas.

In a video posted to his X account, Netanyahu said the government made the move on the advice of “security officials,” in order to save lives of Israeli soldiers.

An Israeli official said that one group that Netanyahu was referring to was the so-called Popular Forces, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, a local clan leader in Rafah. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

In recent weeks, the Abu Shabab group announced online that its fighters were helping protect supply shipments to the new, Israeli-backed distribution centers run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the Rafah area.

The Abu Shabab family renounced Yasser over his connections with the Israeli military in a recent statement, saying he and anyone who joined his group “are no longer linked” to the family.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been trying to broker another ceasefire and hostage release after Israel ended an earlier truce in March and imposed a blockade. But the talks appear to be deadlocked.

Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. It has offered to hand over power to a politically independent Palestinian committee.

Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying Israel will only agree to temporary ceasefires to facilitate the return of hostages. He has vowed to continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile.

He has said Israel will maintain control over Gaza indefinitely and will facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population to other countries.

The United Nations chief on Thursday urged world leaders and officials attending an upcoming U.N. conference on ending the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict “to keep the two-state solution alive.”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that the international community must not only support a solution where independent states of Palestine and Israel live side-by-side in peace but “materialize the conditions to make it happen.”

Threat to ruling coalition

Netanyahu’s ruling coalition faces the possibility of collapse and early elections after his ultra-Orthodox partners threatened to bring down the government.

The United Torah Judaism party has indicated it would support the dissolution of parliament unless agreements are reached on the longstanding exemption of its men from enlisting in the military, with the Shas party expected to follow.

Netanyahu has until June 11 to smooth out the differences with his partners, otherwise a vote will take place on a bill to dissolve Knesset — the Israeli parliament — with the opposition on track to win a majority with Ultra-Orthodox support. That could lead to elections as early as this fall, a year ahead of schedule, depending on the outcome of further votes.

In a statement from his office Wednesday, Netanyahu acknowledged the growing divide within the government and said a meeting will be held on Thursday to try to reach a compromise.

Elsewhere, the Israeli military struck several sites in Beirut’s southern suburbs that it said held underground facilities used by Hezbollah for drone production Thursday, on the eve of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

The strikes, which hit eight buildings at four locations, marked the first time in more than a month that Israel had struck on the outskirts of the capital and the fourth time since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement ended the latest war between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah in November.

Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon since then, which Lebanon has said are in violation of the ceasefire deal. Israeli officials say the strikes are intended to prevent Hezbollah from regrouping after a war that took out much of its senior leadership and arsenal.

The Israeli army said in a statement that Hezbollah was “working to produce thousands of drones under the guidance and financing of Iranian terrorist groups.”

Hezbollah “used drones extensively in its attacks against the State of Israel and is working to expand its drone industry and production in preparation for the next war,” the army statement said.