Hagari says IDF confirmed deaths of 31 hostages; tally includes bodies of 2 soldiers held since 2014

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari responds to a report in The New York Times this evening, claiming that the military has confirmed the deaths of 32 hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and is assessing “unconfirmed intelligence” that at least 20 more may have also been killed.

“We are working in all ways to return [the hostages] home, and exhausting all information about them and their conditions,” Hagari says in an evening press conference.

“The IDF is accompanying the families of the hostages in these complex and difficult days, and our representatives are providing the families with any confirmed information on their loved ones,” he says.

He says the IDF has so far notified the families of 31 hostages that their loved ones are confirmed to have been killed.

They include 29 hostages kidnapped by terrorists on October 7 — all of which have been announced over the past months — and soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed and abducted by Hamas in 2014.

“To the rest of the families, we provided the accurate information about their fates and conditions,” he says.