Anger grows: "A third of the hostages died"

Of the roughly 250 people kidnapped by Hamas in Israel and taken to the Gaza Strip during the October 7 attack, about 50 were released in November as part of an agreement between the two sides. The Israeli army freed some of them and found some dead.

"Another 120 people are in the hands of Hamas"

The government said 120 people were still in the hands of Hamas, 43 of whom were declared dead based on various sources of information, including intelligence, surveillance footage and forensic analysis.

Some officials privately believe the death toll is higher, Reuters writes.

At the start of the Israeli offensive, Hamas threatened to kill the hostages in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes, and in the meantime, the militant group announced that some of them had been killed in Israeli strikes.

Israel did not rule out that this is possible in individual cases, but also announced that the bodies of the hostages found showed signs of execution.

Yesterday, four more hostages were added to the list of those killed.

• State Department: "The world should know..."