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Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of three hostages from the Gaza Strip, says chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Hagari identified the three as Shani Luk, Amit Buskila and Yitzhak (Yitzhak) Gelernter, who he said “were killed by Hamas while fleeing the Nova music festival on October 7 and their bodies were taken to Gaza.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the military operation on Friday and reiterated his promise to return all hostages.
“We will return all our hostages, whether alive or dead,” he said in a statement.
Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israeli bases and communities on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
About 130 hostages remain held in Gaza.
Israel has since launched an air, ground and sea assault on the blockaded Palestinian territory, killing more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The bombardment has displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, devastated the coastal enclave and sparked a deep humanitarian crisis.
Israeli forces battled Hamas fighters in the narrow streets of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Friday in some of the fiercest fighting since they returned to the area a week ago, while in the south the militants attacked tanks massing around Rafah.
Residents said Israeli armor had reached the market in the heart of Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, and that bulldozers were demolishing homes and shops in the path of the advance.
“Tanks and planes wipe out residential areas and markets, shops, restaurants, everything. All this is happening in front of the one-eyed world,” Ayman Rajab, a resident of western Jabalia, said via a chat app.
Israel said its forces had cleared Jabalia months earlier during the Gaza war, but said last week they were returning to prevent the group from regrouping there.
In Gaza’s southern tip, thick smoke rose over Rafah, bordering Egypt, where an escalating Israeli assault sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing what was one of the only remaining places of refuge.
“People are terrified and trying to flee,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva, adding that most had followed orders to move north to the coast, but that there were no safe routes or destinations.
As the battle raged, the US military said trucks began bringing aid ashore from a temporary pier built offshore, the first to reach the besieged enclave by sea in weeks.
The UN said it was finalizing plans to distribute the aid, while reiterating that overland truck convoys – interrupted this month by the assault on Rafah – were the most effective way to get aid.
“To prevent the horrors of famine, we must use the fastest and most obvious route to reach the people of Gaza – and for that we need land access now,” said UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq.
Jabalia resident Rajab, a father of four, said food aid is not the answer: “We want this war to end and then we can manage our lives on our own,” he said.
The Israel Defense Forces said troops had killed more than 60 militants in recent days and located an arms cache near a shelter complex in what it described as a “division-level offensive” in Jabalia.
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