The IDF said on Thursday that the six hostages, whose bodies were extracted from Gaza earlier this week, had gunshot wounds. They were found in a tunnel near the bodies of Hamas captors who were not shot and appeared to have died from suffocation when fire broke out in the tunnel during an IDF operation in Khan Younis, six months ago.
Preliminary findings from the coroner's office, that examined the remains of the hostages, were given this morning," the IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. "We informed the families of Avraham Munder, Yagev Buchshtab, Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Alex Dancyg of the findings."
2 View gallery
From top left clockwise: Alex Dancyg, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, Yagev Buchshtab, Avraham Munder and Chaim Peri
(Photo: Courtesy of the families)
A definitive cause of death has not yet been determined, the IDF said and the investigation will continue.
Earlier, Esther Buchshtab revealed that her son was shot in captivity.
Forces who extracted the bodies were directed toward a location within Khan Younis where information suggested the hostages’ bodies were hidden.
"We identified the bodies on-site, even before they were transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine," the IDF said.
In the past months, the IDF has recovered 18 hostages' bodies, mainly from Jabaliya and Khan Younis, across four operations. Avraham Munder was the only one among the recovered hostages whose death had not been confirmed until this operation, as he was previously believed to be alive.