The discovery renewed pressure on Israel’s government for a deal to get the remaining hostages freed.
Israel’s military said Saturday it had recovered the body of a 47-year-old farmer who was held hostage in Gaza, while negotiators prepared to begin another round of talks Sunday on and securing the release of the remaining hostages,
Israel’s army said it found the body of Elad Katzir and believed he was killed in January by militants with Islamic Jihad, one of the groups that entered southern Israel in the killed more than 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. Katzir was abducted from Nir Oz, a border community that suffered some of the heaviest losses.
The discovery renewed pressure on Israel’s government for a deal to get the remaining hostages freed. Families have long feared time is running out. At least 36 hostages in captivity have been confirmed dead. About half of the original number have been released.
“He could have been saved if a deal had happened in time,” Katzir’s sister Carmit said in a statement read to the media. “Our leadership is cowardly and driven by political considerations, and that is why (a deal) did not happen.”
Israelis are divided on the approach by and his government. A week ago, tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem in the largest anti-government protest since the war began.
Inside Gaza, the toll of Israel’s offensive is measured in tens of thousands of deaths and more than a million Palestinians displaced.
“We have arrived at a terrible milestone,” the U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in a statement marking six months and noting “the immediate prospect of a shameful man-made famine.” He called the prospect of further escalation in Gaza “unconscionable.”
Cease-fire negotiations will resume on Sunday, according to an Egyptian official and Egypt’s state-owned Al Qahera TV.
