Slain hostage’s widow: IDF probe proves military pressure kills hostages; 28 hostages have been killed due to IDF ops

The wife of Chaim Peri says the investigation released by the army earlier today on the deaths of her husband and five other hostages in February proves that the IDF’s military pressure is killing the hostages.

The IDF probe determined that the six hostages were likely executed by their captors amid an IDF airstrike on a Hamas tunnel near where they were being held. The IDF said in its probe that it hadn’t been aware at the time that the hostages were near the tunnel targeted in the strike.

Speaking to Channel 12, Osnat Peri says “military pressure doesn’t help bring hostages home — what’s worse, it kills the hostages.

She says that 28 hostages have been killed as a result of IDF operations.

Peri expresses hope that the IDF probe will convince the government to strike a hostage deal.

Hours earlier, though, Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed that a hostage deal was increasingly possible due to the IDF’s military pressure against Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies have repeatedly claimed that military pressure can coax Hamas into making a deal, but this has yet to be proven true since the first hostage deal in late November.