NETANYAHU MEETS US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON after address in Congress
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, met with relatives of hostages held by Hamas militants during his trip to Washington D.C on Wednesday.
He was joined by U.S House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson.
On Wednesday, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of five hostages killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and then taken to Gaza where they were held since. They included a kindergarten teacher taken from her kibbutz in southern Israel and four reserve and conscript soldiers who had tried to repel the Hamas attack.
The retrieval operation was carried out using intelligence gathered and analyzed in recent weeks, said military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
Islamist militant group Hamas burst into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas and other militants are still holding 120 hostages while more than 105 hostages were freed from Gaza in a week-long truce in November, in return for 240 Palestinian prisoners.