JERUSALEM: Israeli forces identified the body of one the hostages seized by Hamas gunmen on Oct. 7 and confirmed that another four had died, the military said on Friday, as fighting resumed in the Gaza Strip after a week-long pause.
Ofir Tzarfati, one of the people captured at the Nova music party in Re’im just outside Gaza, was found by Israeli forces recently and identified earlier this week by forensic officials, the military said in a statement.
In addition, chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the families of the hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovich had been informed of their deaths, based on “reliable intelligence.”
A group representing hostage families also said a sound engineer at the Nova festival named as Guy Illouz, who had been taken hostage, was confirmed to have died in captivity.
In all, some 240 hostages were seized during the Oct. 7 attack, in which some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed, according to Israeli authorities.
During the seven-day pause, which ended on Friday morning, authorities said 110 hostages — 86 Israelis and 24 foreigners — were released in exchange for Palestinian detainees, while the bodies of two hostages were recovered by Israeli troops.
Hamas said this week that the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his 4-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shira Bibas had been killed during an Israeli bombardment but the Israeli military said the information was still not verified.
Israel has responded to the Oct. 7 attack with its heaviest-ever bombardment of Gaza and with a ground invasion of the enclave that together have killed more than 14,000 people, around 40 percent of them under 18, according to Palestinian authorities.
Israeli leaders have vowed to continue the operation to return all the hostages to Israel and destroy Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules Gaza and has vowed to annihilate Israel.
Israeli authorities identify Gaza hostages dead in captivity
https://arab.news/gf3ym
Israeli authorities identify Gaza hostages dead in captivity
- The families of the hostages Eliyahu Margalit, Maya Goren, Ronen Engel and Arye Zalmanovich had been informed of their deaths
- In all, some 240 hostages were seized during the Oct. 7 attack
Lawyers in Sanaa face Houthi repression: report
- Claims of arbitrary arrests and detentions, direct threats
- 159 Houthi violations in 2025, 88 in 2024, 135 in 2023
RIYADH: In Yemen, the Houthis are attacking lawyers, raising widespread concerns about the rule of law and state of the justice system, Asharq Al-Awsat reported on Tuesday.
“Recent reports from local human rights organizations have revealed a recurring pattern of systematic restrictions on the practice of (the) law profession, including arbitrary arrests, prolonged detentions, and direct threats,” according to Arab News’ sister publication.
The publication added that the situation “in Sanaa and other Houthi-controlled cities no longer provides a professional environment for lawyers who themselves are now subject to questioning or targeted for defending their clients, especially in cases of a political or human rights nature.”
The Daoo Foundation for Rights and Development organization have reported more than 382 Houthi violations against lawyers in Sanaa from January 2023 to December 2025.
These include arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention without legal justification, threats of murder and assault, preventing them from practicing law, and restrictions on the right to defense in cases of a political or human rights nature.
The report stated that there were 159 Houthi violations against lawyers in 2025, 88 in 2024 and 135 in 2023, which was described as a “systematic pattern.”
Local and international human rights organizations have called for urgent intervention to protect the legal practitioners in Yemen.
“Human rights activists believe that protecting lawyers is a prerequisite for maintaining any future reform or political path because the absence of an independent defense means the absence of justice itself,” Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
