The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Thursday it found the body of one of the Israeli hostages near the Shifa hospital in northern Gaza.
Israeli forces from the 603rd Battalion of the 7th Brigade Combat Team recovered the body of Yehudit Weiss “from a building near the Shifa hospital,” IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Thursday night local time. Her family has been notified of the recovery of her body, Hagari added.
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Hagari did not specify how Weiss was killed or when, but he said Israeli forces also found military equipment, including Kalashnikov rifles and RPG’s inside the building where they found her body.
The Hostages and Missing Person’s Families Forum identified Weiss as a 65-year-old grandmother who “loves culture, sports, traveling, and baking.”
Weiss was one of roughly 240 civilians who were taken hostage and brought back to Gaza during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, mainly in southern Israel. She becomes the sixth hostage whose status has since been uncovered; four were released while the IDF rescued one other hostage. There have been talks about a possible hostage release in exchange for a ceasefire or the release of other prisoners, though very little has materialized to date.
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Israeli and United States leaders have said in recent days that Hamas uses the Shifa hospital, among other protected sites, to hide underneath and within them, which is a war crime, President Joe Biden said on Wednesday. Israeli forces raided the hospital on Wednesday and found some weapons in the hospital, Israeli officials said.
Biden said he’s “mildly hopeful” about the hostages.
