The IDF located on Thursday night an additional three bodies of hostages that Hamas had kidnapped into Gaza on October 7, the military announced on Friday morning.
The military subsequently returned the bodies to Israel. The hostages were Hanan Yavlonka, Michel Nissenbaum, and Orion Hernandez.
According to IDF intelligence, the hostages were murdered during the October 7 massacre and were taken by Hamas terrorists to Gaza.
The Thursday night operation to recover the bodies was done in collaboration with the Shin Bet under the 98th Paratroopers Division, the Yahalom Unit, and the 504th Unit in the Jabalya neighborhood in northern Gaza while relying on intelligence analyzed in the past few days by The Hostages and Missing Peoples Supervisor.
There was intense fighting in the area at the beginning of the operation to retrieve the bodies, the military said.
After a procedure carried out by medical officials at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police, IDF representatives notified the hostages’ families.
Hernandez was the boyfriend of Shani Louk, another murdered hostage whose body was recovered earlier by the IDF. He held Mexican and French citizenship.