40-year-old Itay Svirsky was a therapist who loved philosophy. Eden Erusharmi, 24, was trained to become a Pilates instructor. Alex Lobanov, 32, the father of three, has never met his youngest child.
According to a New York Times of Forensics report and an analysis of military investigations into their deaths, they are one of 41 hostages killed since being captured by Hamas and its allies during the October 7 attack on Israel.
Some were killed by Hamas, while others were killed in an Israeli fire, but the cause of death is unknown. The losses, and most rapidly, their size, are now at the heart of the dispute of distress within the Israeli Association, about whether more people could have come to life if the truce reached earlier.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long argued that only the army can force Hamas to release hostages. Netanyahu's opponents argued that the longer the war, the more hostages could be executed by Hamas or killed on an Israeli strike.
This debate has gained more resonance recently as the country has faced a prospect of returning to war since the recent lapse of the armistice. The Israeli government recently reversed the process by proposing a new framework that was quickly rejected by Hamas. This called for a seven-week extension in which the group would release half of the living hostages and return half of the deceased's ruins.
The Israeli government says that of the 59 hostages they believed were still being held in Gaza, only 24 are alive. Their fear and uncertainty about their destiny are burned in the spirit of the nation.
In late February, thousands of Israelis lined up the streets along the funeral of Silvivas and her two young sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were lured during a Hamas-led attack on Israel and killed in Gaza. Many people held the sign that read “I'm sorry.”
Of the 251 people accused during the Hamas-led raid that sparked the war in October 2023, more than 130 have been brought back to life by Palestinian detainees. Israeli forces have recovered more than 40 other bodies. Many of them died in Gaza during the attack. Hamas has handed over eight groups as part of its latest ceasefire agreement.
Two Israeli officials said the first few days of the war were almost certainly killed on the first day of the war. However, many others have died since the battle continued in the war that killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in November 2023.
All soldiers and officials spoke on the condition of anonymity and discussed the sensitive findings.
Israel and Hamas signed another ceasefire agreement in July, but the talks collapsed and took another five months to reach an agreement that was roughly similar to that discussed in the summer. Some of Netanyahu's political rivals and hostage relatives say they have months of extra battles, leading to the deaths of more hostages, leading to the ultimate failure to defeat Hamas, deterring Lebanon and Iran's Hamas and its allies.
“We could have brought more hostages home — faster, for less,” Israeli defense minister Joav Gallant said in a televised interview last month.
Netanyahu's office declined to comment, but he has long accused Hamas of not reaching a ceasefire. “Just continuing military pressure until a full victory will result in the release of all our hostages,” the prime minister said last year.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the specific circumstances in which the hostages were killed, but said in a statement it had carried out a number of precautions that were taken to protect the prisoners of war.
The statement added, “We express our deep sadness for all the cases that were killed while the hostages were being captured, and we do everything with our power to prevent such events.” The military also said it will regularly update hostage families about the status of loved ones.
Seven hostages were executed by prisoners as Israeli soldiers were portrayed nearby, while four others were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to public findings from Israeli officials and military investigations.
The Israeli army publicly stated that three hostages had been killed by Israeli soldiers who mistaken them for Palestinian extremists. One was shot dead in Crossfire. The circumstances surrounding the deaths of the other 26 people are inconclusive.
In some cases, there are conflicting claims, as in the case of the Bibas family. Hamas said the three were killed on the Israeli strike, but the Israeli forces said they were killed.
Neither side provides evidence of conclusions. After examining the bodies, Dr. Chen Kugel, director of Israel's National Institute of Forensic Medicine, said in a statement that there was no evidence of the death in the bombing.
Some relatives of the hostages only blame Hamas for these deaths. According to military investigations, Nira Sharabi's aided husband was killed in an Israeli airstrike. She said in an interview that Hamas was responsible in the end, “because they took him there.”
Others believe that the government cares more about the fight against Hamas than saving their loved ones.
“The government deceived the public by underestimating the risks that war had posed to hostages,” Merav Svilsky said.
Her brother survived an Israeli airstrike in order for the Israeli captor to be executed a few days later.
“The prisoners killed my brother. But the reason he shot him was because of the military campaign,” Svilsky added.
Killed in an airstrike
When Israel attacked the underground Hamas headquarters in November 2023, the strike killed two Hamas commanders, including Ahmed al-Gandor, the Hamas general who helped Israel organize the October attack.
A month later, Israeli infantry sought out the site of the strike and discovered the bodies of three unintended victims. They are two soldiers who were invited from the music festival on October 7th and were captured at a nearby military base.
The military tried to prevent harm to hostages. During the war, intelligence agents gathered information about each breeder at the last known location and maintained records, according to more than a dozen officials.
However, three military officials said the military was unable to identify the locations of many hostages. If there were no clear signs of the hostage position, the Air Force could attack, like an attack on Al-Ghandour.
The military did not inform their relatives for months after they finally concluded that airstrikes killed hostages in March 2024, according to two defense officials. The military declined to comment on the incident.
In January 2024, the military allowed relatives to view forensic reports later reviewed by The Times.
Mayan Sherman, the mother of one of the victims, quickly launched a public campaign to force the troops to admit that gas was released during the explosion caused by Israeli missiles.
It wasn't until September that the troops admitted that the man was killed in its own airstrike. It does not reveal the exact cause of death.
Performed by Hamas
According to five Israeli defense secretaries in late August, Israeli Command wanted to find the town of Southern Gaza to find Yahya Singwar, the top leader of Hamas in Gaza.
As they were hunting Mr. Singwar, the Israeli army assessed that there were people who could have been detained in tunnels in the same area. The commander confirmed the presence of at least one hostage on August 27th.
Military investigations show that the military first suspended their mission, fearing that their presence would put other hostages at risk.
The area was already marked as restricted due to operations on military maps reviewed by the Times. Three officials said they were in military danger by operating in the area.
Four defense officials said the need to hunt Singhwar ultimately came to a greater priority.
After a one-day pause, Commandos proceeded with the search on August 28th.
On August 31, in place of Mr Singwar, the commander found the bodies of six hostages who were shot, killed and abandoned in a narrow tunnel.
Hamas issued a conflicting message shortly after the incident. One official accused of killing Israel, while another strongly suggested that he had been killed by Hamas fighters.
Military investigations later concluded that Israeli forces were killed by security guards when they approached.
Singwar was eventually killed in another operation on October 16th.
He was killed during a rescue attempt
One night, in December 2023, I thought Israeli Commando forces were at the pinnacle of rescuing female hostages. Three Israeli officials said the team raided Hamas hideout in Gaza and hoped they would find an Israeli woman in another room from prisoners.
Instead, they find themselves in a shootout with the Hamas militants. The woman was nowhere to be seen. Officials said that Hamas appeared to have traded her for Sahar Balf, a male hostage, if Israeli intelligence officials had not noticed.
Soon, Mr. Barhi died – killed in a crossfire that wounded an Israeli soldier, officials said. It is unclear whether Mr Baruch was killed by a friendly fire and his prisoner. Hamas later released a video of his body.
Baruch's body is still in Gaza.
Johnnatan Reiss contributed report
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