The Israeli army informs the families of two hostages of their deaths and the preservation of their bodies in Gaza

The Israeli army announced on Monday the death of two Israelis whom it said Hamas captured from the vicinity of the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 and is keeping their bodies.

The Israeli army said in a statement, “IDF delegates informed, on Monday, members of the families of Alex Dancyg and Yagev Buchshtav, who were kidnapped to Gaza, that they are dead and their bodies are being held by Hamas”.

“The decision to determine their deaths was based on intelligence confirmed by an expert committee affiliated with the Ministry of Health, in cooperation with Police,” without elaborating.

The Israeli army added that all concerned parties are looking into the circumstances of their deaths with Hamas.

For its part, the Forum of Families of Hostages held in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday the death of two of them held by Hamas since the seventh of October, 2023.

The forum said in a statement that Yagev Buchshtav, (35), and Alex Dancyg, (76), were abducted during the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas inside the Israel, and that their deaths were a stark reminder of the urgent need to return them all.

The statement didn’t provide any details about their deaths.

The Israeli military said in a separate statement that Hamas was holding the bodies and that the circumstances of their deaths were being verified.

According to the forum, Yagev Buchshtav was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nerim along with his wife, Raymond, who was released after 50 days of captivity.

The son of Holocaust survivors, Alex Dancyg worked at Yad Vashem, the International Holocaust Remembrance Institute, and trained thousands of mentors.

The Forum stated that hostages held with him reported that Dancyg spent his time in captivity lecturing history for other hostages.

“Yagev and Alex were taken alive and should have returned alive to their families and to their country,” the forum said.

“Their capture deaths are a tragic reflection of the consequences of stalling the negotiations of the months-long ceasefire,” the statement said.