Israeli forces recover bodies of four hostages from Gaza

Bodies retrieved from the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where Israeli forces launched new raids

JERUSALEM:

Israeli forces recovered on Wednesday the bodies of four hostages killed in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and held in Gaza since then, the Israeli military said.

Maya Goren, a 56-year-old kindergarden teacher was killed during the attack on her kibbutz, Nir Oz, according to Israeli Army Radio, one of the communities worst-hit in the deadly Hamas attack through southern Israel that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.

The three other hostages were a reserve soldier and two conscript soldiers who were killed in combat during the Oct. 7 attack, the military said.

Their bodies were retrieved from the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where Israeli forces launched new raids this week.

The four were among the 120 hostages still held in Gaza, around a third of whom Israel has declared dead in absentia based on forensic findings, intelligence, interrogations of captured militants, videos and testimonies of released hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an address to the US Congress on Wednesday, said his government was actively engaged in intensive efforts to release the remaining hostages and that he was confident those efforts would succeed.

An Israeli delegation would take part in talks to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release - mediated by The United States, Egypt and Qatar - next week, an Israeli official said on Wednesday.

Hamas wants a ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza. However, Netanyahu says the war cannot end before Hamas is defeated.