Remains of three more Israeli hostages recovered from Gaza

Paul Godfrey
·2 min read
2
UPI
The remains of three Israelis killed on October 7, (L-R) Michel Nisenbaum, Orion Hernandez and Hanan Yablonka, were recovered in an overnight military operation in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza and returned to Israel. Photo courtesy of Israel Defense Forces/X

May 24 (UPI) -- Israeli forces recovered the bodies of three more hostages from northern Gaza overnight in a joint Israel Defense Forces-Shin Bet operation.

The IDF identified the men in a post on X as Hanan Yablonka, 42, Michel Nisenbaum, 59, and Orion Hernandez, 32, who were murdered during Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel and and their remains taken back to Gaza.

"Their bodies were rescued overnight during a joint IDF and Israel Security Authority operation in Jabalia and brought back to Israel. We will continue operating to bring all of our hostages back home," the post said.

They were among around 130 still being held in Gaza of an original 252 abducted on Oct. 7, with 110 released or rescued into the run-up to, and as part of, a six-day truce in late November.

Yablonka and Hernandez were killed as they fled the Nova music festival as fighters from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups went on the rampage killing at least 360 mostly young people attending the outdoor event.

Nisenbaum was last heard of en route to collect his granddaughter from an IDF base on the border with the Gaza Strip.

Hernandez was at the festival with girlfriend Shani Louk, 23, one of three Israelis whose bodies were recovered in an earlier operation in Jabalia on May 17.

Israeli authorities already knew Louk was also dead after identifying her from a skull fragment found inside Israel and videos circulating online of her body being paraded in Gaza in the back of a pick-up truck.

The latest hostage recoveries, two weeks into renewed fighting in the north and as Israeli forces push deeper into Rafah in the south near the border with Egypt, came as CIA Director William Burns flew to Europe for talks to try to rescue a stalled ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

An Israeli official told NBC News that Burns will hold meetings in Europe with the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and the Qatari prime minister in an effort to get truce negotiations going again.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague was also due to issue a ruling later Friday on whether to grant an emergency temporary injunction sought by South Africa requiring Israel to halt all military operations in the Palestinian enclave.