IDF tells families of 4 Israeli hostages held in Gaza ‘they are no longer alive’

The Israel Defense Forces says its representatives have informed the families of four hostages being held in Gaza “that they are no longer alive.”

The IDF said it had told the families of Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper, and Nadav Popplewell “who were brutally abducted to the Gaza Strip on October 7, that they are no longer alive and that their bodies are held by the Hamas terrorist organization.”

The IDF said the decision to pronounce the four hostages dead was based on intelligence and was confirmed by a Ministry of Health expert committee, in coordination with the Ministry of Religious Services and the Chief Rabbi of Israel.

The circumstances of their deaths in Hamas captivity are still under examination, according to the IDF, which says it uses a “a wide variety of methods to gather information about the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip.”

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