Four Israeli hostages were confirmed dead Monday, as the Israeli military concluded that they had died months before in the city of Khan Yunis, site of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas during the winter months.

Three of the hostages had been forced to appear in a Hamas propaganda video earlier in the war, which remains the last time they were seen alive — gaunt, and bearded in the Islamic style — by their relatives or the Israeli public.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement:

Today (Monday), IDF representatives have informed the families of Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper, and Nadav Popplewell who were brutally abducted to the Gaza Strip on October 7th, that they are no longer alive and that their bodies are held by the Hamas terrorist organization.

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 death in Hamas captivity are still under examination by all the relevant professionals.

The IDF uses a wide variety of methods to gather information about the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF and the relevant security authorities will continue to accompany the hostages’ families.

In a statement in English, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the four hostages likely died together during an Israeli operation against Hamas, suggesting that it was possible that they had been killed during a battle.

Hagari described Perry as a peace activist “who used to transport sick children from Gaza to receive medical treatment in Israel.” He was also one of the founding members of Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit towns in Israel on October 7. His daughter, Noam, has criticized calls for a ceasefire while hostages are still in captivity.

In addition, the Israeli military confirmed that a paramedic named Dolev Yahud, 35, who had been thought kidnapped, was actually killed on October 7. His remains were only recently recovered in Israel. Hagari noted that Yahud had left his pregnant wife and three children in their bomb shelter to save the lives of others under attack.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.