Israel's military finds bodies of three hostages kidnapped at music festival

Israeli troops have recovered the bodies of three hostages in the Gaza Strip, with the military saying they were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack and their bodies taken into Gaza. ITV News Reporter Chloe Keedy has the latest

The Israeli military says its troops in Gaza have found the bodies of three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7 attack, including German-Israeli Shani Louk.

A photo of 22-year-old Ms Louk's body in the back of a pickup truck was shown around the world and brought to light the scale of the proscribed terror group's attack.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) identified the other two bodies found as those of 28-year-old woman, Amit Buskila, and 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter.

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said all three were killed by Hamas at the Nova music festival - an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border - and their bodies taken into Gaza.

The military did not give immediate details on where their bodies were found.

Ricarda Louk sits in front of a placard of her missing daughter Shani Louk in October 2023. Credit: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking,” saying, “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”

In a statement to CNN, the family of Ms Louk said: "Every news like this brings us back to the horrific moment we had to find out that our loving daughter was brutally murdered by Hamas on the 7th of October.

"However, it is also a relief to get the body back and we are now able to bury her close by. It gives us some kind of closure.

"We want to remember Shani as the beautiful and peace-loving person she was, who loved music, dancing and life. She brought us and many other people in the world light and the belief in good. This is how we choose to remember Shani."

Israel has been operating in the strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it has said it has intelligence that hostages are being held.

Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates and the United States Agency for International Development. Credit: AP

The first trucks carrying aid across the newly built US pier into Gaza have delivered food and supplies.

The shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day, all while Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah in its seven-month offensive against Hamas.

The US and aid groups warn that the floating pier project is not a substitute for land deliveries that could bring in all the food, water and fuel needed in Gaza.

Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered the territory on an average day.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others in the October 7 attack.

Around half of those have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a weeklong ceasefire in November.

Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of around 30 more.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have currently died as a result of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

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