IDF: 3 more hostages’ bodies recovered; Egypt to permit aid trucks through Gaza entry

TEL AVIV, Israel — Egypt said Friday it has agreed to send U.N. humanitarian aid trucks through Israel’s main crossing into Gaza, but it remained unclear if they will be able to enter the territory as fighting raged in the southern city of Rafah amid Israel’s escalating offensive there.

Meanwhile, the bodies of three more hostages killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack were recovered overnight from Gaza, Israel’s army said Friday. The CIA chief met in Paris with Israeli and Qatari officials, trying to revive negotiations for a cease-fire and a hostage release.

In a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi agreed to allow trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel to go to the Kerem Shalom crossing until a solution is found for the Rafah crossing, el-Sissi’s office said in a statement.

Fighting appeared to escalate in Rafah. Bombardment intensified Friday in eastern parts of the city, near Kerem Shalom, but shelling was also taking place in central, southern and western districts closer to the Rafah crossing, witnesses said.

Israeli leaders have said they must uproot Hamas terrorists from Rafah to complete the destruction of the group.

The Israeli military said its troops overnight found the bodies of three people killed in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack and subsequently taken into Gaza and counted among the hostages.

The bodies of Hanan Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum and Orion Hernandez Radoux were found in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, the military said.

The announcement comes less than a week after the army said it found in the same area the bodies of three other Israeli hostages, also killed on Oct. 7.

Nisenbaum, 59, was a Brazilian-Israeli from the southern city of Sderot. He was killed in his car as he went to get his 4-year-old granddaughter from a site near Gaza that came under attack by the terrorists.

Oryon Hernandez Radoux, 30, and Yablonka, 42, a father of two, were both killed as they tried to escape the Nova music festival, where the terrorists killed hundreds of people. Hernandez Radoux had been attending the festival with his partner, German-Israeli Shani Louk, whose body was among those found by the army earlier.

Israel says around 100 hostages are still captive in Gaza, along with the bodies of at least 39 more, while 17 bodies of hostages have been recovered.

The group representing the families of the hostages said the bodies had been returned to their families for burial.

CIA Director Bill Burns was meeting in Paris on Friday with Israeli and Qatari officials in informal talks aimed at getting hostage and cease-fire negotiations back on track, a United States official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions.