As Israel buries dead hostages, Gaza talks grow more complex
Summary
- The recovery of six bodies from Gaza adds urgency to cease-fire talks and raises concerns that Hamas might not meet the proposed terms of a deal
NIR OZ, ISRAEL—As this kibbutz buried another community member who was taken hostage on Oct. 7 and returned dead, concerns are rising in Israel that time is running out for a deal to reach a cease-fire in Gaza and bring the remaining hostages home.
Yoram Metzger, 80, was buried Thursday evening in Nir Oz’s small cemetery plot after a military operation returned his body and five others to Israel. His body was laid to rest next to several newly dug graves decorated with flower wreaths for other hostages. Explosions could be heard in the Gaza Strip under two miles away.
Families of hostages and officials in Israel’s security establishment worry the remaining live hostages could suffer the same fate as Metzger and the others, who are thought to have survived for about five months after being captured by Hamas-led forces.
The deaths are also raising concerns there might not be enough living hostages for Hamas to meet the expectations of the first stage of the proposed cease-fire deal, when 33 hostages who aren’t male soldiers are to be freed. Negotiators are still battling over other major hurdles in the talks, but complications around the central agreement to swap hostages for Palestinian prisoners loom in the background.
At the funeral, longtime members of Nir Oz watched as Metzger’s family covered his body with dirt. They included Margalit Moses, 78, a longtime neighbor of Metzger’s and herself an Oct. 7 hostage who was freed in a deal in November.
“Yesterday we had a funeral. Today we have one. Next week I have two more. It’s difficult coming here for this," Moses said. “It shakes your foundations."
Family members of two of the deceased hostages told The Wall Street Journal that the military had informed them that their relatives had been shot. The others also showed signs of having been shot, according to the military, which is still investigating the circumstances of their deaths.
The military, which hasn’t provided the families with the autopsy reports, said in June that some of the six men had been killed during a military operation in Khan Younis.
Most of the hostages whose bodies were returned this week were elderly men between the ages of 75 and 80 who would have met the criteria to be released in the first stage of a cease-fire deal that has been discussed for months without success.
Under the proposed terms, Hamas is to release 33 hostages who are women or children, over the age of 50, female soldiers, or severely injured in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Hamas has argued in recent days that it has fewer than 20 living hostages who meet this criteria and that it won’t provide a list of their names until closer to when they would be released, Arab mediators say. Israel and the U.S. believe the number of those still living is higher and that more than 20 need to come out alive in the first phase, according to the mediators.
Many of the remaining live hostages are likely to be military-aged men whom Hamas will be unlikely to release soon.
“As long as Hamas is holding a group of hostages who are soldiers, they have very strong cards in their hand, and they will never release final information about the welfare of all of them even if they know, because it is part of the way they do this stuff," said Gershon Baskin, an Israeli hostage negotiator who helped broker a previous prisoner exchange with Hamas.
Summer Said contributed to this article.
Write to Anat Peled at anat.peled@wsj.com
