TEL AVIV, December 14. /TASS/. Israel has confirmed the death of two more people captured by Palestine’s radical Hamas movement, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.

The victims were identified as Tal Chaimi, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, and Joshua Luito Mollel, a resident of Kibbutz Nahal Oz. They perished while being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Chaimi was a member of an emergency squad sent to contain Hamas militants until the arrival of army reinforcements. Mollel, a student from Tanzania, arrived in Israel just two weeks before the October 7 attack.

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory on October 7, when many Israelis living in the settlements near the border were killed and over 200 people, including children, women and the elderly, were taken hostage. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.