Israel’s Health Ministry said the six hostages whose deaths were announced Sunday died from gunshot wounds at close range between Thursday and Friday, according to autopsy results.
“The six hostages were killed by Hamas terrorists with several shots fired at close range,” spokeswoman Shira Solomon said in a statement. “According to the forensic examination, the hostages’ deaths are estimated to have occurred approximately 48 to 72 hours before the procedure.”
Earlier, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said an initial investigation indicated the six hostages had been killed by Hamas shortly before forces reached them, but gave no further details.
Hamas, meanwhile, claimed that the hostages were killed by Israeli “bombing.” “It is the occupation that kills our people every day, with American weapons, and the discovery of the prisoners’ bodies in the Gaza Strip proves that they were killed solely by Zionist bombing,” Hamas political bureau member Izzat al-Rishq said in a statement.
Relatives of the hostages were furious on Sunday after learning of their loved ones’ deaths, saying that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had signed a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, they would still be alive.
“Those who kill hostages do not want a deal,” Netanyahu replied in a recorded message. “We, for our part, will not relent. The Israeli government is committed, and I am personally committed, to continue to fight for a deal that will return all our hostages and guarantee our security and existence.”
Negotiations on a ceasefire to allow the release of the 97 hostages remaining in Gaza – around 30 of whom are believed to have died – have reached a standstill amid accusations of adding new demands to the truce proposal extended by the United States in May.
Netanyahu has refused to give in to certain demands from the terrorist group: that the ceasefire be definitive, that Israeli troops withdraw from all Gazan territory, as well as from the so-called Philadelphia Corridor, which runs the entire length of the border with Egypt.
Last night, thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest against Netanyahu and his government, demanding early elections and the signing of a truce agreement with Hamas that would allow for the release of the 97 hostages (of whom a third have died) who remain captive in Gaza.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir reacted to criticism from hostages’ families and the opposition, while Israel’s Histadrut trade union called for a general strike on Monday in support of talks.
“I see the disturbing statements from the left, which accuse the Israeli government of killing the hostages (…) To be clear: the terrorist organization Hamas, and only Hamas, killed the hostages. Those who blame the Israeli government are echoing Hamas propaganda,” he wrote on the social network X.
For his part, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also reiterated in X his rejection of any “surrender agreement” with Hamas and concluded that, on the contrary, it was a good time to “reduce the Strip” by at least two kilometers, “a territory that will never return to the hands of the inhabitants of Gaza.”
The war broke out on October 7 last year with a Hamas attack on Israel that left some 1,200 dead and 251 hostages, of whom 105 were released in the only truce ever achieved, which lasted for a week at the end of November.
The devastating Israeli offensive on the Strip has since left more than 40,700 dead, more than 94,000 wounded, more than 10,000 missing under the rubble and 1.9 million displaced – almost the entire population – in the midst of a serious humanitarian crisis.
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