Israeli hostage killed in Gaza after failed rescue op, kibbutz says

An Israeli hostage held by Hamas in Gaza has been killed, the man’s kibbutz community said Saturday after the Palestinian militant group claimed he had died during a failed rescue attempt. Sahar Baruch, 25, is the latest confirmed fatality among scores of Israelis and foreigners taken captive during Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel. Beeri, the Gaza border community Baruch was from, and the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a joint statement he had been “murdered”. “It is with deep sorrow and a broken heart that we announce the murder of Sahar Baruch,” the statement said. He was “kidnapped from his home by Hamas terrorists to Gaza… and murdered there,” it added without providing evidence. Israel earlier this week counted 138 hostages who remain in Gaza, out of around 240 taken on October 7 during attacks that officials say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive targeting Hamas has killed at least 17,490 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the latest toll from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. On Friday the Israeli army said two soldiers were wounded in an overnight hostage rescue operation that failed to retrieve any captives. It said “numerous terrorists who took part in the abducting and holding of hostages were killed”. Hamas said fighters of its military wing, Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, had “succeeded in foiling an Israeli attempt to free an Israeli captive”. “A fierce gunfight broke out between al-Qassam fighters and the Israeli special force, leaving many soldiers wounded while the captive Israeli… was announced killed,” Hamas said in an English-language statement late on Friday. It released a video showing what it said was the hostage’s body. AFP was unable to independently verify its authenticity. Kibbutz Beeri was one of the worst hit communities in Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Out of a population of 1,100, more than 80 were killed including Baruch’s brother Idan, according to Saturday’s statement. “We will demand the return of his body as part of any abductee return deal,” said the kibbutz and the forum representing hostages and their families. “We won’t stop until everyone is home.” A one-week truce that ended on December 1 saw 105 hostages released from Gaza, including foreigners as well as 80 Israelis – mostly women and children – freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians jailed by Israel.