Israel: Body of 2nd Hostage Found Near Gaza Hospital

Israeli authorities say body of 19-year-old Noa Marciano was discovered
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 17, 2023 12:30 AM CST
Updated Nov 17, 2023 7:22 AM CST
Body of Hostage Found Near Gaza Hospital, Israel Says
This image provided by Maxar Technologies shows al-Shifa hospital and surroundings in Gaza City, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023.   (Satellite image ?2023 Maxar Technologies via AP)
UPDATE Nov 17, 2023 7:22 AM CST

Israel Defense Forces troops in Gaza say they've found the body of yet another hostage taken during the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, reports the BBC. The Daily Beast identifies this hostage as 19-year-old Noa Marciano, whose body "was found and extracted by IDF troops adjacent to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza," per an IDF tweet on Friday. That post adds that Marciano was "abducted and murdered by Hamas terrorists." Earlier this week, Hamas militants released photos of an apparently deceased Marciano, claiming she'd been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Marciano, a soldier with the IDF's Combat Intelligence Collection Corps, was taken on Oct. 7 from the Nahal Oz IDF base.

Nov 17, 2023 12:30 AM CST

Soldiers searching Gaza's Shifa Hospital and the area around it following Wednesday's raid on the complex found the body of an Israeli hostage, Israel says. "The body of Yehudit Weiss, who was abducted by the Hamas terrorist organization, was extracted by IDF troops from a structure adjacent to the Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip and was transferred to Israeli territory," says an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson. The IDF says Weiss was abducted from her home in Be'eri kibbutz, near the Gaza border, and her husband, a rabbi, was killed when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, per the Guardian and the BBC.

Weiss was being treated for breast cancer when she was kidnapped and did not have her medication with her when she was taken, Israel says. It isn't clear how she died. Israel, which claims Hamas was using the hospital as a secret military command center, said Thursday that a tunnel shaft used by Hamas, a vehicle containing a "large number of weapons," and "military equipment including Kalashnikov rifles and RPGs" were also found; that information hasn't been independently verified. Hamas denies using the hospital as a military base, and officials at the hospital also deny those claims, Al Jazeera reports. (More Israel-Hamas war stories.)

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