Three bodies from festival recovered in Gaza by Israel
ISRAELI troops in Gaza have recovered the bodies of three people abducted by Hamas during its October 7 attack, including Shani Louk who was paraded in a truck by terrorists.
A photo of the 22-year-old GermanIsraeli tattoo artist in the back of their vehicle spread around the world after the rampage through southern Israel.
The military identified the other two bodies as those of Amit Buskila, 28, and Itzhak Gelerenter, 56.
Israeli spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said all three were murdered by Hamas in a massacre at the Nova music festival in desert near the Gaza border and their bodies taken to the enclave. Military officials did not say where the bodies had been found. Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed: “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”
He wants to eliminate Hamas but is under pressure to resign and the US has threatened to reduce its support over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Hamas terrorists killed up to 1,200 people and abducted 250 on October 7. Half have since been freed, mostly during a ceasefire in November in swaps for Palestinians held by Israel. According to Israel, 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza with the bodies of around 30 more yet to be found.
Israel’s military action in Gaza since the attack – it says it is targeting terrorists – has led to the deaths of more than 35,000 Palestinians, say officials from Gaza’s health ministry which is run by Hamas.
Meanwhile, a £250million pier has been opened in Gaza to let trucks collect food and humanitarian aid from ships crossing the Med. One thousand US soldiers and sailors helped build the platform – which can handle up to 150 trucks a day. Before Israel invaded, more than 500 used crossings into the besieged territory daily.
The boatloads of aid will be taken to a port facility built by the Israelis south of Gaza City, to be distributed by aid groups. Initial supplies rolled ashore yesterday in a project co-ordinated by the United Nations.
But US officials and aid groups warned the pier is not a substitute for land deliveries of the quantity of food, water and fuel needed in Gaza.
The UN said fuel deliveries via land have all but stopped. Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq added: “It doesn’t matter how the aid comes – whether it’s by sea or whether by land – without fuel, aid won’t get to the people.”
Aid groups say they are almost out of food in south Gaza and the World Food Programme and US Agency for International Development stress that famine has taken hold in the north.