The captives were killed shortly before they were found in a tunnel, the IDF says
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that the bodies of six hostages taken by Hamas militants on October 7 have been recovered from a tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza. All the victims have been identified.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 25, were killed by Hamas shortly before the military discovered them.
Alex Lubnov (identified as Aleksander Lobanov in Russian media) held dual Russian-Israeli citizenship. According to the Hostage Families Forum, an organization representing relatives of the captives, he lived in Ashkelon, was married, and had two children. He was reportedly abducted from the NOVA music festival, where he worked as a bar manager.
Following the recovery of the bodies, the Hostage Families Forum called for “a massive demonstration”, criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to agree to a hostage-for-peace deal with Hamas that had been under negotiation for several months. The Forum demanded “a complete halt of the country and the immediate implementation of a deal to release the hostages.”
Hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza escalated when the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise incursion into southern Israel ten months ago, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,100 people and the capture of over 200 others. Some were later released through prisoner exchanges or rescued by the Israeli army. The Israeli military’s extensive response has claimed nearly 40,700 lives, while 94,060 people have been injured, according to Palestinian health officials.
Mediation efforts led by Qatar, the US, and Egypt have been ongoing for months to secure a truce and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Last month, Hamas rejected a renewed US proposal for a hostage release and ceasefire agreement, accusing Netanyahu of sabotaging negotiations and blaming Washington for supporting him. Israel maintained that it could not accept Hamas’s demand to end the war in Gaza as a condition for a deal.
Reuters reported last week that Egypt was hosting US and Israeli delegations for another round of talks regarding a Gaza ceasefire.
According to Israel, 251 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken during the October 7 raid, and 103 remain captive in Gaza.