Itay Svirsky, 40, was a therapist who cherished philosophy. Eden Yerushalmi, 24, was coaching to develop into a Pilates teacher. Alex Lobanov, 32, a father of three, by no means met his youngest baby.
They’re among the many 41 hostages killed since being taken captive by Hamas and its allies throughout their Oct. 7 assault on Israel, in keeping with an evaluation by The New York Occasions of forensic experiences and navy investigations into their deaths, in addition to interviews with greater than a dozen Israeli troopers and officers, a senior regional official and 7 kinfolk of hostages.
Some had been killed by Hamas, some by Israeli fireplace, some their explanation for loss of life unknown. The losses — and most acutely, the size of them — are actually on the coronary heart of an anguished debate inside Israeli society about whether or not extra folks may have been introduced again alive if a truce had been reached sooner.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has lengthy contended that solely navy pressure may compel Hamas to free the hostages. Mr. Netanyahu’s opponents argued that the longer the battle, the likelier that the hostages can be executed by Hamas or killed in Israeli strikes.
The talk has gained extra resonance in latest days because the nation faces the prospect of returning to battle for the reason that lapse of the latest truce. The Israeli authorities just lately upended the method by proposing a brand new framework, instantly rejected by Hamas, that referred to as for a seven-week extension throughout which the group would launch half the dwelling hostages and return the stays of half the deceased ones.
Of the 59 hostages nonetheless believed held in Gaza, the Israel authorities has mentioned that solely 24 are alive. The worry and uncertainty over their fates has been seared on the nationwide psyche.
In late February, hundreds of Israelis lined the streets alongside the funeral route of Shiri Bibas and her two younger sons, Ariel and Kfir, who had been kidnapped in the course of the Hamas-led assault on Israel and killed in Gaza. Many held indicators that learn “sorry,” an apology for not doing sufficient to save lots of them.
Of the 251 folks kidnapped in the course of the Hamas-led raid that ignited the battle in October 2023, greater than 130 have been exchanged alive for Palestinian detainees. The Israeli navy has retrieved the corpses of greater than 40 others, lots of whom had been taken useless into Gaza in the course of the assault. Hamas has handed over eight our bodies as a part of the most recent cease-fire settlement.
A couple of hostages had been virtually definitely killed within the first days of the battle, earlier than it was potential to seal a truce, in keeping with two Israeli officers. However many others have died for the reason that transient first cease-fire collapsed in November 2023 and the preventing continued in a battle that has killed tens of hundreds of Palestinians.
The troopers and officers all spoke on situation of anonymity to debate the delicate findings.
Though Israel and Hamas neared one other cease-fire deal in July, the talks collapsed, and it took one other 5 months to strike an settlement, one largely just like the one mentioned in the summertime. Mr. Netanyahu’s political rivals and a number of the hostages’ kinfolk have mentioned that the months of additional preventing, whereas degrading Hamas and its allies in Lebanon and Iran, led to the deaths of extra hostages and in the end didn’t defeat Hamas.
“We may have introduced house extra hostages — earlier and for a smaller worth,” Yoav Gallant, Israel’s protection minister till November, said in a televised interview final month.
Whereas Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace declined to remark, he has lengthy blamed Hamas for the failure to achieve a truce. “Solely continued navy strain, till complete victory, will convey in regards to the launch of all of our hostages,” the prime minister mentioned final yr.
The Israeli navy declined to touch upon the precise circumstances during which the hostages had been killed however mentioned in a press release that it has carried out operations with quite a few precautions taken to guard the captives.
The assertion added that it “expresses deep sorrow for each incident during which hostages had been killed throughout their captivity and is doing every part in its energy to stop such occurrences.” The navy additionally mentioned that it usually updates the households of hostages on the standing of their family members.
Seven hostages had been executed by their captors as Israeli troopers drew close to, and 4 others died in Israeli airstrikes, in keeping with Israeli officers and the general public findings of navy investigations.
Three hostages had been killed by Israeli troopers who mistook them for Palestinian militants, the Israeli navy mentioned publicly; one was shot dead in crossfire. The circumstances surrounding the deaths of 26 others stay inconclusive.
In some circumstances, there are conflicting claims, reminiscent of within the case of the Bibas household. Hamas mentioned that the three had been killed in an Israeli strike, however the Israeli navy mentioned they had been murdered.
Neither facet has supplied proof for his or her conclusions. After inspecting the our bodies, Dr. Chen Kugel, the director of Israel’s nationwide forensic institute, mentioned in a press release that there isn’t a proof they had been killed in a bombing.
Some kinfolk of the hostages blame Hamas alone for these deaths. Nira Sharabi’s kidnapped husband was killed in an Israeli airstrike, in keeping with a navy inquiry. She mentioned in an interview that Hamas was in the end accountable “as a result of they took him and put him there.”
Others imagine that the federal government cared extra about preventing Hamas than saving their family members.
“The federal government deceived the general public by downplaying the dangers the battle posed to hostages,” mentioned Merav Svirsky.
Her brother survived an Israeli airstrike solely to be executed by his Hamas captor days later, in keeping with three Israeli officers and Ms. Svirsky, who was briefed by navy.
“The captor murdered my brother. However the cause he shot him was the navy’s marketing campaign,” Ms. Svirsky added.
Killed in Airstrikes
When Israel hit a subterranean Hamas command heart in November 2023, the strike killed two Hamas commanders, together with Ahmed al-Ghandour, a Hamas basic who Israel mentioned helped arrange the October assault.
A month later, Israeli infantry scouring the location of the strike discovered the bodies of three unintended victims: an Israeli kidnapped from a music competition on Oct. 7 and two troopers captured at a close-by navy base.
The navy has tried to stop hurt to hostages. All through the battle, intelligence officers gathered details about every captive and maintained data of their final identified location, in keeping with greater than 12 officers.
However the navy couldn’t pinpoint the whereabouts of many hostages, particularly within the first weeks of the battle when info was scarce and aerial bombardments had been at their most intense, in keeping with three navy officers. If there was no clear indication of a hostage’s location, the air pressure was in a position to strike, as within the assault on al-Ghandour.
After ultimately concluding in March 2024 that the airstrike had killed hostages, the navy didn’t inform their kinfolk for months, in keeping with two protection officers. The navy declined to touch upon the incident.
In January 2024, the navy allowed kinfolk to see a forensic report, later reviewed by the Occasions, that steered the boys could have been suffocated by noxious gases.
Maayan Sherman, the mom of one of many victims, quickly started a public marketing campaign to press the navy to confess that the gases had been emitted throughout an explosion brought on by an Israeli missile.
It was not till September that the navy acknowledged the boys had been killed in one in all its personal airstrikes. It has not disclosed the precise explanation for loss of life.
Executed by Hamas
In late August, Israeli commandos superior via a city in southern Gaza, hoping to search out Hamas’s high chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, in keeping with 5 Israeli protection officers.
As they had been attempting to find Mr. Sinwar, the Israeli navy assessed there have been folks probably being held in tunnels in the identical neighborhood. The commandos confirmed the presence of a minimum of one hostage on Aug. 27, after they found a dwelling captive, Farhan al-Qadi, an Arab Israeli, in a tunnel.
Fearing their presence would possibly endanger different hostages, the forces initially suspended their mission, in keeping with a navy investigation.
The world was already beforehand marked as restricted for operations on navy maps, which had been reviewed by the Occasions. Three officers mentioned that by working within the space, the navy risked their lives, since militants had been ordered to kill captives if cornered.
In the end the necessity to hunt Mr. Sinwar took increased precedence, in keeping with 4 protection officers.
After a daylong pause, the commandos pressed forward on Aug. 28 with their search.
On Aug. 31, as a substitute of Mr. Sinwar, the commandos found the our bodies of six hostages who had been shot, killed and deserted in a slender tunnel.
Hamas issued conflicting messages shortly after the incident — one official blamed Israel for killing them, whereas one other strongly steered they had been killed by Hamas fighters.
The navy inquiry later concluded that they’d been killed by their guards because the Israeli forces approached.
Mr. Sinwar was in the end killed in one other operation on Oct. 16.
Killed Throughout Rescue Makes an attempt
One night in December 2023, a squad of Israeli commandos thought they had been on the cusp of rescuing a feminine hostage. The squad stormed a Hamas hide-out in Gaza, anticipating to search out an Israeli lady in a separate room from her captors, in keeping with three Israeli officers.
As an alternative, they discovered themselves in a gun battle with Hamas militants. The girl was nowhere in sight. With out Israeli intelligence officers realizing, Hamas appeared to have swapped her for a male hostage, Sahar Baruch, in keeping with the officers.
Quickly, Mr. Baruch was useless — killed in crossfire that additionally injured Israeli troopers, the officers mentioned. It’s unclear whether or not Mr. Baruch was killed by pleasant fireplace or his captors; Hamas later launched a video of his physique.
Mr. Baruch’s stays are nonetheless in Gaza.
Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting
