IDF confirms deaths of 4 Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity

Four Israeli hostages have died while in Hamas captivity, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Monday after obtaining new intelligence.

The kibbutz Nir Oz said earlier Monday that three of their founders who were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and taken hostage were killed while in captivity.

An IDF spokesperson said Amiram Cooper, Yoram Metzger, and Chaim Peri – all of whom were 80 or older – were killed several months ago along with Nadav Powell in Khan Yunis, while IDF troopers were operating in the area. Their bodies are still in Gaza.

Cooper, Metzger, and Peri were seen in a video released by Hamas under the title, "Don’t let us grow old here." In the video, the three men appear gaunt, wearing thin white T-shirts.

"We are the generation who built the foundation for the state of Israel," Haim Peri says, noting that all the men have chronic illnesses. "We do not understand why we have been abandoned here."

The IDF said Monday that the family members of the victims have been informed of their deaths.

"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," an IDF spokesperson said. "The circumstances of their death in Hamas captivity are still under examination by all the relevant professionals."

Hamas claimed in May that the other hostage pronounced deceased, Nadav Popplewell, died after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike, but provided no evidence to that effect. Popplewell was 51.

Monday’s announcement heightens pressure on the Israeli government to agree to a U.S. cease-fire proposal that could secure the return of the hostages still