Israeli army identifies bodies of 6 Gaza hostages and says they were killed before being rescued

Jerusalem | The Israeli military has identified the bodies of six hostages recovered from a tunnel in the Gaza Strip and says their militant captors killed them shortly before Israeli forces could rescue them.

The army identified them as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; and Alexander Lobanov, 33; all of whom were abducted from a music festival during Hamas' October 7 attack. The sixth, Carmel Gat, 40, was abducted from the nearby farming community of Be'eri.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, said Sunday that “they were cruelly murdered shortly before we were to rescue them.”