Israel has just announced that the bodies of two of those missing from Kibbutz Nir-Oz in southern Israel have been found. They are Noya Dan, who was 12, and her grandmother Carmela, who was 80.
Earlier this week, Abbey Onn, who moved to Tel Aviv eight years ago, told CBS News that five family members had been taken hostage. Carmela Dan, 80, Ofer Kalderon, 50, Sahar Kalderon, 16, Erez Kalderon, 12, and Noya Dan, 12, lived in Nir-oz.
Israel’s military has said that at least 203 people are being held hostage in Gaza following the Hamas attack on 7 October. Previous estimates had put the number of those kidnapped and held captive at 199. Military sources have also said that at least 306 soldiers have died on the conflict.
We are devastated to announce that Noya and her grandmother Carmela’s bodies were discovered yesterday.
Thank you to all of you who shared her story to help us bring her home.
Meanwhile, bodies of a boy and a woman who were among the scores of people killed by Hamas in an Israeli border village have been located and identified, 11 days after the cross-border attack from Gaza, the medical assistance and casualty recovery group Zaka has said.
Remains of the two newly discovered victims were found during searches of a house that had been burned down on the Be’eri kibbutz, or communal farm, Zaka said late on Wednesday.
“Their bodies were incinerated after they were murdered,” it said in a statement, without providing names for the two or elaborating on any possible relationship between them.
Israeli officials have said that at least 108 people were murdered in Be’eri – around 10% of its population. At least a dozen other Israeli communities were also overrun by the attackers.
FRENCH AND Filipino victims
The death toll of French citizens from the Hamas attacks in Israel has risen to 28, and seven others are still unaccounted for, the French foreign ministry said at a weekly briefing on Thursday, Reuters reports.
The Philippines embassy in Tel Aviv has confirmed the death of another Filipino national, bringing the country’s death toll to four.
The victim, who has not been named, was working as a carer in Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities attacked by Hamas on 7 October, the embassy said. Her remains were identified using fingerprint records.
There are around 30,000 Filipinos in Israel, including many who work as carers. A further two Filipino nationals remain missing
A woman looks at pictures of the hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza, outside of the Israeli military base of The Kirya in Tel Aviv, Israel. EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK
