Eight of the 26 hostages who are expected to be returned to Israel by Hamas in the next few weeks as part of the Gaza cease-fire deal are dead, according to Israeli officials.
That information, which Hamas gave to Israel on Sunday, matched Israeli intelligence findings, according to a government spokesman, David Mencer. He said the list provided by Hamas did not specify by name which hostages had died.
Eight families have been told there is a high probability that their relatives will not come back alive, Mencer said.
Addressing the Israeli Parliament yesterday, Dani Elgarat, whose brother Itzik Elgarat is a hostage, said his family expected to receive his body, based on what they had been told. He said he believed his brother’s life could have been saved had a cease-fire deal been reached earlier.
