Israel says body of hostage Itay Svirsky recovered from Gaza

Troops recovered the bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, 35, Alexander Dancyg, 76, Avraham Munder, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Chaim Peri, 79, and Nadav Popplewell, a 51-year-old British-Israeli dual national, along with those of six Hamas fighters, in the southern Khan Younis area.

The military said it was “highly probable” the hostages’ deaths were related to a February strike on a nearby underground site that targeted Hamas commanders.

Pathologists found indications of gunshots on the hostages’ bodies, while no gunshot wounds were found on the fighters’ bodies, it added.

Due to the extended time that had passed “it was not possible to determine with complete certainty the precise cause of death of the hostages or the exact timing of the gunfire”, according to the military.

“According to the most plausible scenario, the terrorists shot the hostages close to the time of the strike,” it said. “However, it is also possible that the hostages were shot by other terrorists post-mortem; it is even possible that the hostages were killed prior to the strike in the area.”

An Israeli military official told reporters that the military believed the six Hamas fighters were “were killed from secondary effects of our strike”, like lack of oxygen.

The military also stressed that it had “no information”, at the time of the strike that the hostages were in the underground site that was targeted or its vicinity.

“Had such information been available, the strike would not have been carried out,” it said, noting that it was preceded by the required planning and approval process.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.