Four hostages and one presumed Hamas captive announced dead

Following last week’s hostage releases, there are 136 captives remaining in Gaza.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Four hostages in Gaza and one who was presumed to have been captured were announced dead on Friday by Israel’s security forces.

The IDF and Shin Bet recovered the body of Ofir Tzarfati, a soldier who was captured on the Re’im base.

The Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Israel Police, and the representatives of the rabbinate identified Tzarfati’s body.

The body of Guy Ilouz, 26, a sound technician who worked with some of Israel’s most famous musicians, was also found.

Illouz was abducted from the Nova music festival at Re’im.

The remains of Ranaana native, Eliyahu Margalit, 75, whose daughter Nili was released on Thursday, were also discovered.

Hamas is still holding the body of Ofra Kidar, 70, who was kidnapped from Be’eri on October 7th.

Ofra Kidar’s husband was murdered during the Hamas attack on the kibbutz.

Ronen Engel, 54, a resident of kibbutz Nir Oz, was thought to have been captured by Hamas.

He was announced dead on Friday following the release earlier in the week of his wife and daughter.

Following last week’s hostage releases, there are 136 captives remaining in Gaza, 114 men, 20 women, and 2 children. Ten are 75 and older. Eleven of the hostages are foreign nationals, and eight of these are from Thailand.

An Israeli official told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that Israel would consider additional pauses in the fighting in exchange for the release of more hostages.

He said, “We can negotiate while we still fight.”