Israeli forces recover bodies of three hostages from Gaza

Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of three hostages which had been held in the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian group Hamas' 2023 attack, the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

The hostages were identified as civilians Ofra Keidar and Yonatan Samerano, and soldier Shay Levinson. All were killed on the day of the attack, on October 7, 2023, the military said.

"In a special operation... the bodies of the hostages Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano and Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson were recovered from the Gaza Strip yesterday," the military said in a statement.

Samerano's father had announced earlier Sunday that his son's body, which was taken into Gaza after he was murdered in a kibbutz by the territory on October 7, 2023 had been recovered by the Israeli army.

Keidar, a 71-year-old mother of three, was also killed in a kibbutz and abducted, while 19-year-old tank commander Levinson "engaged and fought terrorists on the morning of October 7 and fell in combat," a statement from the military said.

With their retrieval, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

The abduction of Samerano, 21 at the time of his death, by a man claimed by Israeli officials as a worker at the UN's Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, was caught on CCTV.

Israel banned all cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza and the occupied West Bank last year, alleging that the UN agency has been infiltrated by Hamas.

The claims sparked international controversy and have been strongly disputed by UNRWA.

Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli campaign in Gaza has since killed more than 55,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in the Strip, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population, plunged the enclave into humanitarian crisis and left much of the territory in ruins. 

Angst over Gaza set aside as Netanyahu's critics back him over Iran

Israel's military assault on Iran has united much of the nation after a period of bitter divisions over the war in Gaza, transforming the political landscape overnight as even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's foes close ranks behind him.

Most Israelis support using force to destroy Iran's nuclear programme, polling shows, despite retaliatory Iranian missile strikes that have killed 24 civilians and put normal life on hold.

 The main opposition parties in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on Monday voted against a motion of no confidence in the government.

Just a week ago, and only 24 hours before the first strikes on Iran, those same parties voted for the Knesset to dissolve itself, which had it succeeded would have been a first step towards early elections that polls suggest Netanyahu would lose.

Netanyahu's political rivals and a large proportion of the public accuse him of prolonging the war in Gaza to stay in office and avoid a corruption trial, to the detriment of the hostages still held by Hamas and of Israel's moral standing.

But on Iran, 83% of Jewish Israelis support his decision to attack, according to a poll by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem conducted on Sunday and Monday.

However, the Hebrew University poll revealed a profound fault line between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority, who make up about 20% of the population.

Only 12% of them support the assault on Iran.