Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said that the six bodies had been retrieved from Hamas tunnels beneath the city of Khan Younis in a “complex operation.”
The circumstances of the deaths of the six hostages were not immediately clear. A spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, Abu Ubaida, said in March that Mr. Metzger and Mr. Peri were among seven hostages who had been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Hamas then said in May that Mr. Popplewell had died from injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike more than a month before.
Weeks later, the Israeli military said that it was examining the possibility that the three hostages had been killed while Israeli forces were operating in the Khan Younis area.
The retrieval of the bodies came as Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken continued a diplomatic push in the region for a cease-fire deal that would see hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Frustration has grown in Israel over the months of halting negotiations, and family members of the hostages still in Gaza have led regular protests demanding a deal to secure their freedom.
Mati Dancyg, Alex Dancyg’s son, said he believed there had been opportunities to get his father out of Gaza alive. But he accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of putting political considerations first, because key members of his governing coalition oppose a cease-fire deal, considering it a surrender to Hamas.
“It is absolutely clear to me that it was possible to bring him back home,” Mati Dancyg said Tuesday on Kan, Israel’s public radio network, adding, “Netanyahu chose to sacrifice the hostages.’’
Mr. Netanyahu has blamed Hamas for obstructing a deal. Mr. Netanyahu’s critics in Israel, as well as Hamas officials, say that Mr. Netanyahu recently added new conditions to a proposal outlined by President Biden in late May, adding to the difficulty of finalizing a deal.
“Our hearts grieve over the terrible loss,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement on Tuesday following the military’s announcement about the retrieval of the bodies. “The State of Israel will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages — the living and the deceased.”
Mr. Munder, 79, Mr. Peri, 80, Mr. Metzger, 80, and Mr. Dancyg, 75, were all abducted alive on Oct. 7 from Nir Oz, a kibbutz, or communal village, near the Gaza border. Mr. Popplewell, 51, and Mr. Buchshtab, 35, were taken from another border community, Nirim.
The Hostages Families Forum, an organization that represents many of the hostages’ relatives, said in a statement on Tuesday that “Israel has a moral and ethical obligation to return all the murdered for dignified burial and to bring all living hostages home for rehabilitation.”
“The immediate return of the remaining 109 hostages,” it added, “can only be achieved through a negotiated deal.”
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.