Israeli hostage dies after ‘failed rescue mission’

An Israeli hostage held in Gaza has been killed, his kibbutz community said, after Hamas claimed he had died in a failed rescue mission.

Sahar Baruch, 25, is the latest confirmed fatality among hundreds of Israelis and foreigners taken captive during Hamas’s Oct 7 attacks on southern Israel.

“It is with deep sorrow and a broken heart that we announce the murder of Sahar Baruch,” Kibbutz Be’eri and the Israeli Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.

The announcement came after the Israeli military said two special forces soldiers had been severely wounded in an attempted hostage rescue operation on Friday night.

“During the operation, numerous terrorists who took part in the abducting and holding of hostages were killed,” it claimed. “No hostages were rescued in this activity.”