The Israeli military on Monday confirmed the death of two more Israeli hostages inside Gaza and said the possibility they were killed by Israeli military fire is being investigated.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) told the families of Yagev Buchshtav, 35, and Alex Dancyg, 75, that they both died several months ago. Both men were taken captive by Hamas during the October 7 attack on southern Israel.
According to Al Jazeera, Hamas announced their deaths back in March. The Palestinian group said Dancyg was killed by Israeli military fire while Buchshtav died due to the lack of food and medicine.
The Times of Israel reported that the news of the IDF confirming their deaths means 44 out of the 116 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza are dead. The total is likely higher, as an Israeli official told Haaretz back in March that they thought only 60-70 hostages were still alive.
Relatives of Buchshtav and Dancyg said they could have been saved if the Israeli government reached a deal with Hamas, and some had harsh words for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been sabotaging the hostage deal negotiations.
“Dad didn’t just die — he died for the sake of [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government of destruction,” said Mati Dancyg, the son of Alex Dancyg.
Mati said Netanyahu “is continuing to thwart and sabotage any chance for a deal” and is “choosing to save his rotten government, rather than save the lives of Israeli citizens whose abduction he himself is responsible for.”
“The sacrificing of the hostages out of political motives is a much, much greater failure than the failure of October 7. This isn’t just criminal negligence, it is full-on treason,” Mati added.
The IDF confirmation of Dancyg and Buchshtav’s deaths came as Netanyahu was traveling to the US, where he will address Congress. Before his arrival in Washington, the family members of the eight Israeli-American hostages in Gaza called for a hostage deal.
“We’re at a point now where the defense establishment in Israel, the intelligence community, the negotiating team, and increasingly the public, as shown by polling, are saying we must do a deal now to bring home the hostages,” said Jon Polin, the father of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, according to Haaretz.
I think the number of POWs killed by the IDF is now close to 75. That’s about 1/2 of the Prisoners remaining after the prisioner exchange early on in the fighting.
The Likud seems to believe the same as the Imperial Japanese Army and Bolsheviks in WWII that anyone taken prisoner is a traitor.
If it was Netanyahu's son being held prisoner by Hamas, something tells me a deal would have been made to free him.