Netanyahu: Hostage was shot in the back of the head

The six hostages found dead in Gaza over the weekend are said to have been shot dead at close range. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes it as them being "executed" with shots to the back of the head.

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Netanyahu: Hostage was shot in the back of the head
Photo: Ariel Schalit/AP/TT

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The autopsy of the bodies shows that they were killed two to three days before they were found, according to the Health Department's spokesperson Shira Solomon, citing Israeli media.

The six were shot with multiple shots at close range, according to the autopsy report.

They shot them in the back of the head, says Netanyahu during a press conference, according to AFP, and rejects the idea that Israel should respond with "concessions" in the talks on a ceasefire in Gaza.

"Waited 330 days"

Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Ori Danino, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and Alexander Lobanov were found dead in a tunnel in southern Gaza on Saturday, about a kilometer from the site where another hostage was found alive last week.

According to reports in Israeli media, several of the dead would have been released during the first phase of the proposed ceasefire that is on the negotiating table.

Thousands of mourners attended when four of them were buried in different parts of Israel on Sunday, reports The Times of Israel.

It wasn't supposed to end like this, my beloved Eden, said 24-year-old Yerushalmi's mother Shirit in tears during her daughter's funeral in Petah Tikva in central Israel.

You were not just my daughter, you were my best friend. I waited 330 days for you to come home.

"You were abandoned"

In Ashkelon, the cemetery was filled with Israeli flags when Alexander Lobanov, who was kidnapped from the Nova festival during Hamas' attack on October 7, was buried. During the time the 32-year-old was held captive in Gaza, his wife gave birth to the couple's second child.

I'm sorry I didn't manage to bring you home. I'm sorry I let you go to that damn festival, said his wife Michal during the funeral.

Several of the mourners directed scathing criticism at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for failing to bring the hostages home in time.

You were abandoned day after day. You were sacrificed on an altar to destroy Hamas, the Philadelphia corridor, and Rafah, said 27-year-old Almog Sarusi's mother Nira during the funeral of her son, reports Ynet.

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By TTEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for local and international readers

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