Itay Svirsky, 40, was a therapist who liked philosophy. Eden Yerushalmi, 24, was coaching to develop into a Pilates teacher. Alex Lobanov, 32, a father of three, by no means met his youngest youngster.
They’re among the many 41 hostages killed since being taken captive by Hamas and its allies throughout their Oct. 7 assault on Israel, in line with an evaluation by The New York Occasions of forensic stories and navy investigations into their deaths, in addition to interviews with greater than a dozen Israeli troopers and officers, a senior regional official and 7 kinfolk of hostages.
Some have been killed by Hamas, some by Israeli fireplace, some their reason behind dying unknown. The losses — and most acutely, the size of them — at the moment are on the coronary heart of an anguished debate inside Israeli society about whether or not extra individuals may have been introduced again alive if a truce had been reached sooner.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has lengthy contended that solely navy drive may compel Hamas to free the hostages. Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents argued that the longer the battle, the likelier that the hostages could be executed by Hamas or killed in Israeli strikes.
The controversy has gained extra resonance in latest days because the nation faces the prospect of returning to battle because the lapse of the latest truce. The Israeli authorities lately upended the method by proposing a brand new framework, instantly rejected by Hamas, that referred to as for a seven-week extension throughout which the group would launch half the residing hostages and return the stays of half the deceased ones.
Of the 59 hostages nonetheless believed held in Gaza, the Israel authorities has stated that solely 24 are alive. The concern and uncertainty over their fates has been seared on the nationwide psyche.
In late February, hundreds of Israelis lined the streets alongside the funeral route of Shiri Bibas and her two younger sons, Ariel and Kfir, who have been kidnapped in the course of the Hamas-led assault on Israel and killed in Gaza. Many held indicators that learn “sorry,” an apology for not doing sufficient to avoid wasting them.
Of the 251 individuals kidnapped in the course of the Hamas-led raid that ignited the battle in October 2023, greater than 130 have been exchanged alive for Palestinian detainees. The Israeli navy has retrieved the corpses of greater than 40 others, lots of whom have been taken useless into Gaza in the course of the assault. Hamas has handed over eight our bodies as a part of the most recent cease-fire settlement.
A number of hostages have been nearly definitely killed within the first days of the battle, earlier than it was doable to seal a truce, in line with two Israeli officers. However many others have died because the transient first cease-fire collapsed in November 2023 and the preventing continued in a battle that has killed tens of hundreds of Palestinians.
The troopers and officers all spoke on situation of anonymity to debate the delicate findings.
Though Israel and Hamas neared one other cease-fire deal in July, the talks collapsed, and it took one other 5 months to strike an settlement, one largely much like the one mentioned in the summertime. Mr. Netanyahu’s political rivals and a number of the hostages’ kinfolk have stated that the months of additional preventing, whereas degrading Hamas and its allies in Lebanon and Iran, led to the deaths of extra hostages and finally did not defeat Hamas.
“We may have introduced residence extra hostages — earlier and for a smaller worth,” Yoav Gallant, Israel’s protection minister till November, said in a televised interview final month.
Whereas Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace declined to remark, he has lengthy blamed Hamas for the failure to succeed in a truce. “Solely continued navy strain, till complete victory, will deliver concerning the launch of all of our hostages,” the prime minister stated final 12 months.
The Israeli navy declined to touch upon the precise circumstances by which the hostages have been killed however stated in an announcement that it has carried out operations with quite a few precautions taken to guard the captives.
The assertion added that it “expresses deep sorrow for each incident by which hostages have been killed throughout their captivity and is doing all the pieces in its energy to forestall such occurrences.” The navy additionally stated that it often updates the households of hostages on the standing of their family members.
Seven hostages have been executed by their captors as Israeli troopers drew close to, and 4 others died in Israeli airstrikes, in line with Israeli officers and the general public findings of navy investigations.
Three hostages have been killed by Israeli troopers who mistook them for Palestinian militants, the Israeli navy stated publicly; one was shot dead in crossfire. The circumstances surrounding the deaths of 26 others stay inconclusive.
In some instances, there are conflicting claims, reminiscent of within the case of the Bibas household. Hamas stated that the three have been killed in an Israeli strike, however the Israeli navy stated they have been murdered.
Neither aspect has supplied proof for his or her conclusions. After inspecting the our bodies, Dr. Chen Kugel, the director of Israel’s nationwide forensic institute, stated in an announcement that there is no such thing as a proof they have been killed in a bombing.
Some kinfolk of the hostages blame Hamas alone for these deaths. Nira Sharabi’s kidnapped husband was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in line with a navy inquiry. She stated in an interview that Hamas was finally accountable “as a result of they took him and put him there.”
Others imagine that the federal government cared extra about preventing Hamas than saving their family members.
“The federal government deceived the general public by downplaying the dangers the battle posed to hostages,” stated Merav Svirsky.
Her brother survived an Israeli airstrike solely to be executed by his Hamas captor days later, in line with three Israeli officers and Ms. Svirsky, who was briefed by navy.
“The captor murdered my brother. However the purpose he shot him was the navy’s marketing campaign,” Ms. Svirsky added.
Killed in Airstrikes
When Israel hit a subterranean Hamas command heart in November 2023, the strike killed two Hamas commanders, together with Ahmed al-Ghandour, a Hamas common who Israel stated helped arrange the October assault.
A month later, Israeli infantry scouring the positioning of the strike discovered the bodies of three unintended victims: an Israeli kidnapped from a music pageant on Oct. 7 and two troopers captured at a close-by navy base.
The navy has tried to forestall hurt to hostages. All through the battle, intelligence officers gathered details about every captive and maintained data of their final identified location, in line with greater than 12 officers.
However the navy couldn’t pinpoint the whereabouts of many hostages, particularly within the first weeks of the battle when data was scarce and aerial bombardments have been at their most intense, in line with three navy officers. If there was no clear indication of a hostage’s location, the air drive was capable of strike, as within the assault on al-Ghandour.
After finally concluding in March 2023 that the airstrike had killed hostages, the navy didn’t inform their kinfolk for months, in line with two protection officers. The navy declined to touch upon the incident.
In January 2024, the navy allowed kinfolk to see a forensic report, later reviewed by the Occasions, that recommended the lads could have been suffocated by noxious gases.
Maayan Sherman, the mom of one of many victims, quickly started a public marketing campaign to press the navy to confess that the gases have been emitted throughout an explosion attributable to an Israeli missile.
It was not till September that the navy acknowledged the lads have been killed in certainly one of its personal airstrikes. It has not disclosed the precise reason behind dying.
Executed by Hamas
In late August, Israeli commandos superior via a city in southern Gaza, hoping to seek out Hamas’s prime chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, in line with 5 Israeli protection officers.
As they have been attempting to find Mr. Sinwar, the Israeli navy assessed there have been individuals probably being held in tunnels in the identical neighborhood. The commandos confirmed the presence of at the least one hostage on Aug. 27, after they found a residing captive, Farhan al-Qadi, an Arab Israeli, in a tunnel.
Fearing their presence may endanger different hostages, the forces initially suspended their mission, in line with a navy investigation.
The world was already beforehand marked as restricted for operations on navy maps, which have been reviewed by the Occasions. Three officers stated that by working within the space, the navy risked their lives, since militants had been ordered to kill captives if cornered.
In the end the necessity to hunt Mr. Sinwar took greater precedence, in line with 4 protection officers.
After a daylong pause, the commandos pressed forward on Aug. 28 with their search.
On Aug. 31, as a substitute of Mr. Sinwar, the commandos found the our bodies of six hostages who had been shot, killed and deserted in a slender tunnel.
Hamas issued conflicting messages shortly after the incident — one official blamed Israel for killing them, whereas one other strongly recommended they have been killed by Hamas fighters.
The navy inquiry later concluded that they’d been killed by their guards because the Israeli forces approached.
Mr. Sinwar was finally killed in one other operation on Oct. 16.
Killed Throughout Rescue Makes an attempt
One night in December 2023, a squad of Israeli commandos thought they have been on the cusp of rescuing a feminine hostage. The squad stormed a Hamas hide-out in Gaza, anticipating to seek out an Israeli girl in a separate room from her captors, in line with three Israeli officers.
As a substitute, they discovered themselves in a gun battle with Hamas militants. The lady was nowhere in sight. With out Israeli intelligence officers realizing, Hamas appeared to have swapped her for a male hostage, Sahar Baruch, in line with the officers.
Quickly, Mr. Baruch was useless — killed in crossfire that additionally injured Israeli troopers, the officers stated. It’s unclear whether or not Mr. Baruch was killed by pleasant fireplace or his captors; Hamas later launched a video of his physique.
Mr. Baruch’s stays are nonetheless in Gaza.
Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting
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