The Israeli military says it has recovered the bodies of six hostages in an overnight operation in Gaza.
The military said in a statement that its forces recovered the bodies of six hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7 attack in southern Gaza.
It identified the hostages as Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Haim Perry, without saying when or how they died.
Five of the hostages were over 50 years old when they were captured, and three had family members who were released during a week-long ceasefire in November.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the recovery effort and said "our hearts ache for the terrible loss".
"The State of Israel will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages - both alive and dead," he said in a statement.
The recovery came as the the United States, Egypt and Qatar are trying to mediate a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of scores of hostages held by the militant group.
Hamas is still believed to be holding around 110 hostages captured in the October 7 attack.
Israeli authorities estimate around a third of them are dead.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is making his ninth visit to the region since the start of the war, said on Monday that Mr Netanyahu has accepted a proposal to bridge gaps in the ceasefire talks, and called on Hamas to do the same - which it has so far not done.
Hamas-led militants burst through Israel's defences on October 7 and rampaged across the south, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.
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More than 100 hostages were released in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel during a week-long ceasefire last year.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants.
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