Israeli army finds bodies of 3 hostages in Gaza killed at Oct. 7 music festival

The Israeli military said Friday its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three Israeli hostages killed by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack, including German-Israeli Shani Louk.

A photo of 22-year-old Louk’s twisted body in the back of a pickup truck ricocheted around the world and brought to light the scale of the militants’ attack on communities in southern Israel. The military identified the other two bodies as those of a 28-year-old woman, Amit Buskila, and a 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter.

All three were killed by Hamas while fleeing the Nova music festival, an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border, where militants killed hundreds of people, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a news conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking,” saying, “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”

The military said the bodies were found overnight, without elaborating, and did not give immediate details on where they were located. Israel has been operating in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it says it has intelligence that hostages are being held.

Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more. Israel’s war in Gaza since the attack has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back, but he’s made little progress. He faces pressure to resign, and the U.S. has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to put the war on hold and free the hostages, and others who think the hostages are an unfortunate price to pay for eradicating Hamas. On-and-off negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt have yielded little.

My thoughts

I haven’t seen the uncensored video of Shani Louk nor do I want to but from the description that’s given, what happened to her is so messed up. I’m glad her body was finally found along with the other 2 hostages. I hope many others are found soon even though I have a bad feeling a majority of them are no longer alive.

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Strawberrry · F

shouldnt do any negotiations for hamas surrender before all hostages are returned one way or another

graphite · 61-69, M

@Strawberrry Hamas has most likely slaughtered those people.

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NerdyPotato · M

@Strawberrry oh, returning all hostages would bring a surrender of Hamas a step closer? That would explain why Israel keeps rejecting every offer to get their citizens back. 🤔 Although... Israel could just refuse to return their Palestinian hostages to prevent a surrender and keep the attacks going.

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NativePortlander1970

@Strawberrry

NativePortlander1970

@Strawberrry

NerdyPotato · M

@Strawberrry Hamas made many offers to return their hostages; Israel rejected all of them. And as for hiding behind kids...
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE95J0FR/

Hamas has done evil things and I fully agree that needs to stop. But literally everything that Hamas is shunned for is done by Israel too, more often than not on a larger scale. And on top of that, Israel is doing evil things that Hamas never did.

I am by no means defending Hamas, but Israel is objectively much worse. I therefore condemn both. People who condemn Hamas but defend Israel for doing the same and more are hypocrites. Plain and simple.

Strawberrry · F

@NerdyPotato no.... israel basicaly just wants to be left alone but has been attacked over and over for decades... stop attakcking and makign death threats to israel and they will not hurt anyone.

but give palestine a state and it will be run by the hamas and they will not stop attacking till israel is gone and every jew is dead... they not hiding that. if you support a palestine state you are supporting a genocide on israel and every jew that lives there. this is not a dramatic misunderstanding.. this is what they openly want.

NativePortlander1970

@Strawberrry Maybe we should set up a gofundme for whoever is laughing, for a plane ticket straight to gaza so they can join hamas.

NerdyPotato · M

@Strawberrry seriously? Hamas didn't even exist until halfway the history between these states. Hamas stayed quiet between the signing of the last peace treaty and October 7th, but Israeli citizens kept driving people out of their homes and creating illegal settlements outside Israel's borders from day one after that agreement.

An independent journalist interviewed Gaza citizens for three weeks and heard nothing but "let the Jews stay peacefully in Israel and leave us alone". Two hours of interviews in Tel-Aviv was nothing but "Netanyahu isn't imposing enough violence", "kill all Palestinians!", and even "African Jews need to go back to their own country".

But even if you think this started on October 7th, do you agree with Israel's tactics of bombing food drops, luring citizens with cries for help and sniping any citizen that offers help, destroying everything in the region after telling people to move south with only a few hours warning, and then leveling their destination too? Do you support Israel taking tens of times as many hostages as Hamas did, and torturing them? Do you support starving the entire population of Gaza, voting for Hamas or not?

I do not support Hamas, but Israel is doing everything they do (and more) on a MUCH bigger scale. If you're against Hamas like me, you should be against Israel too. I don't know how this can be stopped completely, but considering Israel started all this and is contributing ten times as much as Hamas to prolonging this, the ball is in Israel's court for at least slowing down the violence.

Strawberrry · F

@NerdyPotato obviosuly hamas started later for those who the PLO wasnt extreme enough... but that doesnt change that the state of israel was from its very beginnign threatened and attacked with complete annihilation and genocide. and if you do believe there could be a palestine state that isnt dominated by extremist groups like hamas i dont know what to say... then you are just blind.
right now there is still hostages and israel is in its right to do whatever drastic method they have to do to somehow free those hostages. its absolutely legit to blow up a hospital if the hospital staff allows hamas to hide there.

return the hostages and we can have a cease fire and talk about how to punish and capture everyone in any way associated with the hamas... that includes the guy who sells them food etc.

palestine never even was a state in any way... its not even a distinct people like kurds who someone like you who seems to care so much for mistreated minorities doesnt bother with. maybe its because they are suppressed by jews and you are indeed antisemitic. ever wondered why egypt or jordan dont want to simply annex the gaza strip or the north eastern height ? because they know they cannot control this area because its completely infested to the very core with hate and extremists.

NerdyPotato · M

@Strawberrry

right now there is still hostages and israel is in its right to do whatever drastic method they have to do to somehow free those hostages

Israel still has twice as many Palestinian hostages from before October 7th and tripled that number since. Does that mean Hamas is in its right to do whatever drastic method they have to do to somehow free those hostages, including killing every Israeli citizen whether any IDF member is even close or not, until those hostages are freed?

(I don't think so, in the same way I don't think Israel has the right to do so with Palestinian civilians, but I'm just applying your view to both sides here.)

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NerdyPotato · M

@Strawberrry civilians imprisoned with no information for an indefinite time? Yes, I call those hostages. Terrorists are charged and put on trial, these people are not.

And don't start with antisemitism. Being against brutal mass murder has nothing to do with the religion of the perpetrator.