TEL AVIV, June 3. /TASS/. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has reported the death of four more hostages held by Hamas radicals in the Gaza Strip.

"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," it 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."

According to the IDF, the investigation of the circumstances of their deaths continues.

Earlier in the day, the IDF said that the body of Dolev Yehud, who has been thought to be kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023, was found in Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was identified following a thorough "analysis by the IDF in coordination with anthropological experts." He was murdered on October 7, 2023.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

In late November 2023, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which took effect on November 24. The sides extended the ceasefire several times but on the morning of December 1 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli side, as many as 110 hostages were released during this period.