by Israel has considered securing the freedom of hostages held in Gaza a key objective in its war against Hamas, so many in the country were shocked on Tuesday when it emerged that at least a fifth of the captives were already dead.
The news is likely to worsen the furor in Israel, where the debate over the government’s course of action in Gaza regarding the hostages has become divisive.
Israeli intelligence officials have concluded that at least 30 of the remaining 136 hostages captured by Hamas and its allies on October 7 have been killed since the start of the war, according to a confidential assessment reviewed by The New York Times.
The bodies of two other dead Israelis, killed in 2014 during an earlier war between Israel and Hamas, have been held in the territory since then, bringing the total number of hostages killed inside Gaza to at least 32.
The Israeli government issued a statement Tuesday night saying only 31 had been confirmed dead; The discrepancy between the two figures could not be immediately reconciled.
“We have informed 31 families that their captured loved ones are no longer among the living and that we have declared them dead,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military’s chief spokesman, said Tuesday after The Times published a report on the hostage not being captured. previously revealed. deceased.
Four officials said Israeli intelligence officials were also evaluating unconfirmed information indicating that at least 20 other hostages may also have been killed.
Some of the dead were killed inside Israel on October 7. Their deaths were not confirmed at the time and they were counted among the hostages, but Hamas took their bodies to Gaza, according to two of the officials.
Others were wounded during the Hamas-led attack and died from their wounds after being kidnapped in Gaza, officials said. Others, officials added, were killed by Hamas once inside Gaza.
At least three hostages were killed by the Israeli army during its ground operations. Another died during a botched rescue operation. Israeli soldiers found the bodies of some hostages, intact and without external injuries, inside the maze of tunnels that Hamas has dug beneath Gaza. The army has yet to clarify the causes of those deaths.
The 32 death toll is higher than any previous figure Israeli authorities have made publicly. revealed.
In January, some family members stormed a meeting in Israel’s Parliament to demand that lawmakers take greater action to secure the captives’ release. That protest and similar demonstrations in recent months have helped expose a social divide between those who support an agreement with Hamas to secure the release of captives and those who seek the militant group’s total destruction.
More than 240 hostages were captured by Hamas and its allies during the October 7 attack on southern Israel, prompting Israel to retaliate with massive airstrikes and then a ground invasion. About half of the hostages have been freed, almost all during a temporary truce in November, when they were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails.
Since that truce, the Israeli government has said its military operations in Gaza would pave the way for further hostage releases. Officials have argued that each Israeli military success puts Hamas under more pressure to negotiate another exchange and makes the military better able to rescue remaining captives by force.
But dozens of survivors and relatives of the hostages have said the military campaign is endangering the lives of their loved ones. They want the government to prioritize reaching a new hostage deal instead of going ahead with the invasion, so that their relatives don’t die in the crossfire. Only one hostage has been freed thanks to an Israeli military rescue operation.
The debate over the hostages has become particularly acute in recent days, as negotiations on another ceasefire agreement, brokered by Egypt and Qatar, have gained momentum.
Egypt and Qatar have negotiated with Hamas leaders on a U.S.-backed proposal that could temporarily halt the war, free remaining hostages there in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails and allow for more food, water, medicine and other supplies. in the territory.
On Tuesday, Hamas said it had received the proposal and provided a response to mediators, but gave no further details.
Right-wing members of Israel’s ruling coalition have threatened to leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if he agrees to a deal allowing Hamas to remain in power in exchange for the freedom of all remaining hostages.
But other members of his coalition, including a centrist former general, Gadi Eisenkot, have suggested that freeing the hostages is a more important goal than greater military achievements, and that the two goals are mutually incompatible.
When asked for comment, the Israeli military said in a statement that it was “deploying all available resources to locate and recover as much information as possible about the hostages currently held by Hamas.”
A spokeswoman for the main alliance of hostage families, Liat Bell Sommer, said the alliance was seeking an immediate agreement.
“We are aware that there are bodies held captive by Hamas. We are also aware that every day that hostages are held in Hamas tunnels is a death sentence for them,” said Ms. Sommer.
Other hostages may also have died, but the military has not yet declared them dead because it needs to get absolute evidence before telling their families, according to Avi Kalo, who ran a military intelligence department that dealt with prisoners of war and people. missing.
“When it comes to the decision to declare a prisoner of war dead or a missing person, Israeli intelligence needs 100 percent certainty,” Mr. Kalo said.
“Such a terrible message should not be transmitted except in the case of absolute and definitive knowledge,” he added.
The Israeli military’s assessment did not conclude that any of the dead hostages were killed in Israeli attacks. But some of the hostages freed in November have said they fear those still in Gaza could be killed in Israeli salvos. At least one freed hostage said the relentless Israeli bombardment sometimes seemed as threatening as the threat posed to her.
“Many times I told myself that, in the end, I will die from Israel’s missiles and not from Hamas,” Sahar Kalderon said in an interview last December, weeks after being released. Her father remains captured inside Gaza.
“What about my father, who has been left behind?” he said in the interview. “I ask everyone who sees this: please stop this war; take out all the hostages.”
The report was contributed by Johnatan Reiss, Aaron Boxerman, Gabby Sobelman and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad.
