The body of the Israeli hostage was found near Al-Shifa Hospital, according to the Israeli army
A 65-year-old Israeli woman was to kidnap By Hamas activists on October 7 he was found dead near Gaza Al-Shifa HospitalAccording to what the Israeli army announced on Thursday.
The Israeli army said in a statement that the body of Yehudit Weiss, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, was found by Israeli soldiers in Gaza City and returned to Israel.
The statement did not clarify how and when she was killed, but said that military, medical and rabbinic personnel identified the body and notified her family.
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hajari said in a televised press conference that Hamas killed Weiss. He did not provide further details about the exact cause of her death.
He said: “Unfortunately, Yehudit was killed by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, and we did not reach her on time.”
A previous statement by the Israeli army said, “The Israeli army sends its heartfelt condolences to the family.” “The national mission before our eyes is to find the missing and return the kidnapped people to their homes.”
Weiss was among more than 200 people taken hostage by Hamas during its terror attack on October 7, when its fighters flooded into southern Israel and killed more than 1,200 people. Weiss’s husband, Shmuel, was among those killed.
The IDF said her body was recovered from what it called a “building” near Al-Shifa Hospital, where the IDF on Wednesday launched what it described as a “precise and targeted” operation against Hamas, which it says is using the hospital for military purposes.
Hamas and hospital officials have consistently rejected Israel’s claims that Hamas built a command center under the hospital.
The Israeli army also claimed in its statement that “military equipment, including Kalashnikov rifles and RPG shells, was also found in the building where Yehudit was located.”
The Israeli military also said on Thursday that it had found an “operational tunnel tunnel” inside the Shifa Hospital complex and published a statement including a photo and video claiming to show it.
CNN is unable to verify this claim.
Israel is under significant international pressure to substantiate its claims about Hamas infiltrating the hospital, in order to justify some of its military decisions, which may constitute a potentially serious violation of international humanitarian law.
Kibbutz Be’eri is located just a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip, and its liberal community has been a frequent target of Hamas rockets fired from the Strip, usually intercepted by Israeli defenses.
But the kibbutz became the site of massacre On October 7, when Hamas militants breached the compound, killed more than 120 residents, including children, and kidnapped others.
The Forum for Families of Hostages and Missing Persons, a group created by families of those kidnapped by Hamas, said Weiss is a 65-year-old grandmother.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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