Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Bodies of three more October 7 hostages recovered from Gaza – Israeli army

Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a performance calling for their return in Tel Aviv (AP)
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a performance calling for their return in Tel Aviv (AP)

The bodies of three more hostages killed on October 7 have been recovered overnight from Gaza, Israel’s army said.

Military officials said the bodies of Hanan Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum, and Orion Hernandez have been identified and their families have been informed.

The army said they were killed on the day of the attack at the Mefalsim intersection and their bodies were taken to Gaza.

People hold up pictures of Israeli hostages
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a performance calling for their return in Tel Aviv (AP)

The announcement comes less than a week after the army said it found the bodies of three other Israeli hostages killed on October 7.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted roughly 250 others in the October 7 attack.

Around half of those hostages have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a week-long ceasefire in November.

Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.

One of the dead hostages
Orion Hernandez Radoux (Hostages Families Forum Headquarters via AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back, but he has made little progress.

He faces pressure to resign, and the US has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

A ruling is also expected on Friday afternoon by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over an urgent plea by South Africa to order Israel to cease operations.

Israel is unlikely to comply with any such order. Even so, a ceasefire order by judges of the ICJ would heap more pressure on an increasingly isolated Israel.

Hanan Yablonka
Hanan Yablonka (Hostages Families Forum Headquarters via AP)

On the hostages, 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.

Negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt have produced little progress.

Meanwhile, anger is growing at home at the government’s handling of the hostage crisis.

Earlier this week a group representing the families of hostages released new video footage showing Hamas’ capture of five female Israeli soldiers near the Gaza border on October 7.

The video shows several of the young soldiers bloody and wounded. In one scene, a militant tells one of the terrified women she is beautiful.

The video sparked more protests across the country, calling for the hostages’ release.

Michel Nisenbaum
Michel Nisenbaum (Hostages Families Forum Headquarters via AP)

The group representing the families of the hostages said the bodies had been returned to their families for burial.

Mr Nisenbaum, 59, was a Brazilian-Israeli from the southern city of Sderot. He was taken hostage when he went to rescue his four-year-old granddaughter.

Orion Hernandez Radoux, 30, was a French-Mexican citizen taken from the Nova music festival, which he attended with his partner Shani Louk. Ms Louk’s body was one of those found by the army nearly a week ago.

Mr Yablonka, 42, a father-of-two, was also taken from the music festival. His family told the AP in December that he loved music.

His family received no news of him for nearly two months after he was taken hostage, not knowing if he was alive or dead.