Israeli military recovers bodies of two victims of October 7 attack

Israeli security forces in the southern Gaza Strip recovered the bodies of two Israeli Americans who were killed in the Hamas-led October 2023 attack on Israel, the military said in a statement Thursday.

The two victims, Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gadi Haggai, were in their 70s when they were killed by members of the Mujahedeen Brigades, a small Palestinian militant group, according to the Israeli military. Before their retrieval, their remains were among the four bodies of Israeli American citizens still in Gaza.

Their bodies were recovered from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the military statement said.

The couple had left their kibbutz for a walk early on Oct. 7, 2023, and were caught up in the attack. Weinstein Haggai contacted emergency services for help, according to a recording published by the Israeli news website Ynet. In the call, she said she believed her husband was dead and that she had been struck in the face. She pleaded for rescuers to "save me" and said "everything is covered in blood."

Israeli authorities say that about 1,200 people were killed in the Oct. 7 attacks, with another about 250, most of whom were civilians, taken to Gaza as hostages.

The retrieval of the bodies of Weinstein Haggai and of Haggai brings the number of remaining hostages to 56. The Israeli government has said that 23 are believed to be still alive.

"We will continue to do everything in our power to bring our sisters and brothers back from hell," Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement. "The living, for healing and rehabilitation, and the fallen, to be laid to rest in dignity. Every last one of them."

The Hostages Families Forum, an Israeli group representing relatives of those taken, urged Israeli officials to immediately negotiate an end to the war to bring other captives back.

"Decision-makers must do everything necessary to reach an agreement that will return all 56 remaining hostages," the group said in a statement. "This is what the majority of the Israeli people want," it added.

A ceasefire is seen as necessary to bringing the remaining hostages home.

The Trump administration and other mediators have tried to broker a new pause in fighting after Israel ended the last truce in March. Under the latest U.S. proposal, Israel and Hamas would stop fighting for 60 days and some hostages would be exchanged in return for Palestinians jailed by Israel. The United States said it would also back further negotiations on a permanent end to the war.

Israel wants a temporary deal so it can eventually turn back to trying to defeat Hamas. But Hamas wants stronger guarantees that the ceasefire will lead to a permanent deal and has said it is willing to free the Israeli and foreign captives in Gaza as part of a broader agreement. The United States denounced Hamas' response to the latest proposal as "unacceptable," saying it "only takes us backward."

A survey published in April by the Israeli Democracy Institute showed that more than 68% of Israelis believed that freeing the hostages was more important than removing Hamas from power.

Israel has continued its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy the militant group.

More than 54,000 people have been killed in the enclave in the military campaign following Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Hunger is now widespread after Israel imposed a roughly 80-day aid blockade that was lifted in mid-May.

But supplies are still meager, and the start of a new Israeli-backed aid distribution system has been marred by chaos, with Palestinians who were trying to obtain food supplies having been killed in recent days.