Demonstrators lift placards and flags during a protest calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian militants in Gaza since October, in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (Jack Guez, AFP, Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Israel’s military said it had located a number of bodies in the Gaza Strip, opening the possibility that some of the roughly 100 hostages still held there had been found dead.
Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said in a post on X that troops were working to “extract and identify” the remains, a process that would take several hours. He asked the public not to speculate about their identities.
President Joe Biden, leaving church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Saturday, said Israel had discovered bodies but he didn’t know how many. He didn’t indicate whether the bodies were those of hostages.
“They want to identify the bodies,” he told reporters. “There’s a lot of speculation as to who they are, the names. I’m not at liberty to do that at this moment, until the families are notified.”
About 250 hostages were taken on Oct. 7 when Hamas stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people. More than 100 hostages were freed during a cease-fire late last year.
Biden said that he believed negotiators were getting close to another cease-fire, aimed in part at releasing the remaining hostages. The US has been pushing for a deal for months, most recently last weekend in talks in Cairo.
“We should end this war,” Biden said. “I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement.”
“They’ve all said they agree on the principles, so keep your fingers crossed,” he said.
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