Israel probe finds troops' presence led to killing of six Gaza hostages

 

Anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7 attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, outside the Israeli Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024. [AFP]

The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had concluded that military operations in southern Gaza likely led to the killing by Hamas of six hostages in August.

As the fighting churns on, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile said that an Israeli delegation returned from a "significant" round of talks in Qatar aiming to secure a truce and the release of dozens of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.

In late August, after troops found the six hostages' bodies in an underground shaft in Rafah, the military said they were killed just before soldiers reached them.

Netanyahu said at the time that the six -- Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino -- were "executed" with a bullet "to the head".

The military probe into their deaths found that Israeli "ground activities in the area, although gradual and cautious, had a circumstantial influence on the terrorists' decision to murder the six hostages", the army said in a statement on Tuesday.

It said that "based on the investigation, the hostages were murdered by gunfire from Hamas terrorists" while Israeli forces were operating in the Tel al-Sultan area.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group responded to the army's statement by calling for action to bring back all remaining hostages.

"The time has come to bring back all the hostages. We need a deal that will ensure the return of all hostages within a quick and predetermined timeframe," it said in a statement.

Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, have taken place in Doha in recent days, rekindling hope of an agreement that has proven elusive.

On Monday, Netanyahu told parliament that there was "some progress" in the negotiations, and on Tuesday his office said Israeli negotiators had returned from Qatar after "significant negotiations".

"The team is returning for internal consultations in Israel regarding the continuation of negotiations for the return of our hostages," it added.

Hamas and other Palestinian groups have also reported progress this week towards a ceasefire.

The war was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, during which militants seized 251 hostages.

Ninety-six of them are still held in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead.

The attack resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 45,338 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.