Israeli soldiers have recovered the body of one of the hostages kidnapped during the Hamas-led attack on Israel last month from a building next to the Al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City, the Israeli military said on Thursday night.
The body of Yehudit Weiss, 65, a resident of Be’eri, a kibbutz near the border with Gaza, was found by troops who in recent days have taken control of much of the hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, and were searching within and beneath it. Israeli officials say the hospital complex hosts major Hamas facilities, some in underground bunkers, a claim rejected by Hamas and hospital officials.
The military, in a statement announcing the recovery of her body, did not say how Weiss had died. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, told reporters that soldiers found weapons belonging to her captors near her remains.
“Yehudit was killed by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, and we didn’t manage to reach her in time,” Hagari lamented.
New York Times News Service
