Jerusalem — Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced on Monday that two captives held by Hamas in Gaza had died.
The deaths of Yagev Buchshtab, 35, and Alex Dancyg, 76, who were abducted during the October 7 attack by Hamas, are a “stark reminder of the urgency” to bring the hostages home, the forum said in a statement.
It did not provide any information on how they had died.
Devastating news this morning. Yagev Buchshtab, who was abducted from Kibbutz Nirim on October 7, was murdered as a hostage in Gaza.
May his memory forever be a blessing. And may his captors rot in hell. pic.twitter.com/BMlWc6pEBd
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) July 22, 2024
Buchshtab was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nirim along with his wife Rimon Buchshtab-Kirsht, who was released after 50 days in captivity, the forum said.
Dancyg, who was born to Holocaust survivors, worked at Yad Vashem, the International Holocaust Remembrance Institute, and trained thousands of guides there, it added.
Hostages who were held captive with him reported that Dancyg spent his time in captivity giving history lectures to fellow captives, the forum said.
Heartbreaking: 75 year old Israeli hostage Alex Dancyg, and 35 year old Yagev Buchshtab, were killed in Hamas captivity.
May their memory be a blessing 💔
We need all the hostages back home alive, they should have never been stolen by Hamas— that’s the war crime. https://t.co/q6HkbHBuCy
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) July 22, 2024
“Yagev and Alex were taken alive and should have returned alive to their families and to their country,” the forum said.
“Their death in captivity is a tragic reflection of the consequences of foot-dragging in negotiations,” it said referring to ceasefire talks that have dragged on for months.
During the October 7 attack, Hamas militants seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 44 the Israeli military and officials say are dead.
The attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 39,006 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pixabay
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