Middle East crisis: Biden criticizes opposition to bill that includes aid to Israel and Gaza

Israeli intelligence officers have concluded that at least 30 of the remaining 136 hostages captured by Hamas and its allies on October 7 have been killed since the war began, according to a confidential assessment reviewed by The New York Times.

The bodies of two other dead Israelis, killed in 2014 during an earlier war between Israel and Hamas, have been held in the territory since then, bringing the total number of hostages killed in Gaza to at least 32.

The Israeli government released a statement late Tuesday saying only 31 deaths had been confirmed; the discrepancy between the two figures could not be immediately reconciled.

“We have informed 31 families that their captured loved ones are no longer among the living and we have declared them dead,” Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military's chief spokesman, said Tuesday after The Times published a report on the previously undisclosed hostage. deaths.

Four officials said Israeli intelligence officers were also assessing unconfirmed information indicating that at least 20 other hostages may also have been killed.

Some of the dead were killed in Israel on October 7. Their deaths were unconfirmed at the time and they were counted among the hostages, but according to two of the officials, their bodies were taken to Gaza by Hamas.

Others were injured in the Hamas-led attack and died of their wounds after being abducted to Gaza, officials said. Still others, the officials added, were killed by Hamas once they entered Gaza.

At least three hostages were killed by the Israeli army during ground operations. Another was killed during a failed rescue operation. Israeli soldiers found the bodies of several hostages, intact and without external wounds, in the maze of tunnels that Hamas dug under Gaza. The military has not yet clarified the causes of these deaths.

The figure of 32 deaths is higher than any previous figure publicly available to Israeli authorities revealed.

Some relatives in January stormed a meeting in the Israeli parliament to demand that lawmakers take more action to secure the prisoners' release. That protest and similar demonstrations in recent months have helped expose a social divide between those who favor striking a deal with Hamas to secure the release of the prisoners and those who support the total destruction of the militant group. pursuing group.

More than 240 hostages were captured by Hamas and its allies in the October 7 attack on southern Israel, prompting Israel to retaliate with massive airstrikes and then a ground invasion. About half the hostages have been released, almost all during a temporary ceasefire in November when they were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli prisons.

Since that ceasefire, the Israeli government has said its military operations in Gaza would pave the way for further hostage releases. Officials have argued that any Israeli military success puts Hamas under more pressure to negotiate a new exchange, and makes the military better able to rescue remaining prisoners by force.

But dozens of survivors and families of the hostages have said the military campaign is endangering the lives of their loved ones. They want the government to make it a priority to reach a new hostage deal, rather than continuing with the invasion for fear that their relatives will die in the crossfire. There has only been one hostage liberated by an Israeli military rescue operation.

The debate over the hostages has become particularly acute in recent days, as negotiations over a new ceasefire – brokered by Egypt and Qatar – have accelerated.

Egypt and Qatar have negotiated with Hamas leaders on a proposal, backed by the United States, that could temporarily halt the war, free the remaining hostages there in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, and more food, could allow water, medicine and other supplies. into the territory.

Hamas said on Tuesday it had received the proposal and provided a response to mediators, but did not elaborate.

Right-wing members of Israel's ruling coalition have threatened to quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government if he agrees to a deal that allows Hamas to remain in power in exchange for the freedom of all remaining hostages.

But other members of his coalition, including a centrist former general, Gadi Eisenkothave suggested that freeing the hostages is a more important goal than further military gains, and that the two goals are mutually incompatible.

Asked for comment, the Israeli military said in a statement that it was “using all available resources to locate and retrieve as much information as possible regarding the hostages currently held by Hamas.”

A spokeswoman for the main alliance of hostage families, Liat Bell Sommer, said the alliance was seeking an immediate agreement.

“We are aware that there are bodies in Hamas captivity. We are also aware that every day the hostages are held in Hamas tunnels is a death sentence for them,” Ms Sommer said.

Other hostages may have already died, but the military has yet to declare them dead because it needs absolute proof before telling their families, said Avi Kalo, who headed a military intelligence division that dealt with prisoners of war and missing people.

“When it comes to deciding whether to declare a prisoner of war or a missing person dead, Israeli intelligence needs 100 percent certainty,” Mr. Kalo said.

“Such a terrible message should only be conveyed when it comes to absolute and definitive knowledge,” he added.

The Israeli military's assessment did not conclude that any of the dead hostages were killed in Israeli attacks. But some of the hostages released in November have said they fear those still in Gaza could be killed by Israeli volleys. At least one freed hostage said the brutal Israeli bombardment sometimes felt as threatening as the threat posed by her captors.

“I have often said to myself that in the end I will die by Israel's rockets and not by Hamas,” Sahar Kalderon said in a speech. interview last December, weeks after his release. Her father is still imprisoned in Gaza.

“What about my father, who stayed behind?” she said in the interview. “I ask everyone who sees this: please stop this war; Get all the hostages out.”

Reporting was contributed by Johnatan Reiss, Aaron Bokserman, Gabby Sobelman And Rawan Sheikh Ahmad.