The report cited two Israeli officials as saying that “a few captives were killed in the first days of the war, before it was possible to seal a truce.”
At least 41 Israeli captives out of 251 taken on October 7 have since been killed, some by Israeli fire, according to an analysis by the New York Times (NYT).
In a report on Saturday, the NYT cites forensic reports, military investigations into their deaths as well as interviews with several Israeli soldiers and officials, a senior regional official and seven relatives of captives.
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Of the 59 captives still believed held in Gaza, the report noted, the Israeli government has said that only 24 were alive. More than 130 have been freed, the corpses of more than 40 others have been retrieved by the Israeli army and Hamas has handed over eight bodies in the prisoner exchange agreement.
“Some were killed by Hamas, some by Israeli fire, some their cause of death unknown,” the NYT reported.
‘Continued Military Pressure’
The report cited two Israeli officials as saying that “a few captives were killed in the first days of the war, before it was possible to seal a truce.”
“But many others have died since the brief first cease-fire collapsed in November 2023 and the fighting continued in a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians,” the report noted.
In a televised interview last month, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister until November, said: “We could have brought home more hostages — earlier and for a smaller price.”
Netanyahu meanwhile said last year that “Only continued military pressure, until total victory, will bring about the release of all of our hostages.”
Mistaken Identities
Citing Israeli officials and the public findings of military investigations, the NYT reported that seven captives were executed “by their captors as Israeli soldiers drew near, and four others died in Israeli airstrikes.”
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The report also noted that three hostages were killed by Israeli soldiers “who mistook them for Palestinian militants, the Israeli military said publicly; one was shot dead in crossfire.”
The circumstances surrounding the deaths of 26 others “remain inconclusive.”
In the case of the Bibas family, the report noted, there were conflicting claims with Hamas saying the three were killed in an Israeli airstrike while the Israeli army said “they were murdered.”
‘Unintended Victims’
In November 2023, the report said, Israel claimed to hit a Hamas command center, killing two commanders. A month later, the Israeli army discovered the bodies “of three unintended victims,” an Israeli civilian and two soldiers.
The Israeli army eventually concluded in March 2023 that the airstrike had killed captives, but did not inform the families for months, the NYT reported, citing two defense officials. The military declined to comment on the incident.
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In January 2024, the relatives were allowed by the military to see a forensic report on the bombing, which was later reviewed by the NYT. The report suggested the men may have been suffocated by noxious gases, according to the paper.
Maayan Sherman, the mother of one of the captives killed in the attack, “soon began a public campaign to press the military to admit that the gases were emitted during an explosion caused by an Israeli missile.”
Only in September had the Israeli army “acknowledged” the captives were killed “in one of its own airstrikes,” but has not disclosed the exact cause of death, said the report.
In August, the bodies of six hostages were discovered in a tunnel, with the Israeli military concluding that they had been shot and killed by their guards.
The report also noted the killing of another captive, Sahar Baruch, caught in crossfire “that also injured Israeli officials,” three Israeli officials told the paper.
Hamas’ Assertions
The NYT report corroborates Hamas’ repeated assertions that the dead captives they were holding were killed by Israeli fire, according to Al Mayadeen.
In early December 2024, Hamas said the Israeli army’s acknowledgment of its responsibility for the deaths of captives confirms the accuracy of the Palestinian Resistance’s account of events and exposes the Israeli’s narrative as false, holding it accountable for the consequences that unfolded, the report added.
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At the time, Hamas pointed out that the killing of more Israeli captives by the Israeli forces further proves the failure of Netanyahu’s theory of freeing captives through force, it noted.
In the same month, Abu Obeida, the military spokesperson for Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, accused the Israeli military of deliberately and repeatedly targeting a location where Israeli captives were being held, Al Mayadeen reported.
“The occupation army recently targeted a location where some enemy captives were held, bombing it multiple times to ensure that they were killed,” he reportedly said. The spokesman stressed that the movement had “intelligence confirming that the enemy deliberately targeted the location with the intent to kill the captives and their guards.”
(PC, Al Mayadeen)
