Israel's military confirms hostage killed alongside father in Gaza

Israel confirmed on Friday that the remains of a hostage found killed in Gaza were of Hamza Ziyadne, the son of deceased hostage Youssef Ziyadne, whose body was found beside him in an underground tunnel near the southern city of Rafah.

Israeli forces continued on Friday to pound Gaza, with Palestinian medics saying at least 15 people had been killed, including a journalist for Cairo-based Al-Ghad TV who had been covering an incident at Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

There was no immediate comment on the latest fighting from Israeli's military, which earlier announced it had concluded forensic tests to identify Hamza Ziyadne, an Israeli Bedouin taken hostage by Hamas-led fighters alongside his father and two of his siblings.

It said earlier this week that the body of Hamza's father Youssef had been recovered close to those of armed guards from Islamist group Hamas or another Palestinian militant group and there were indications that Hamza may also have been killed.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas although the group's armed wing told Qatar's al-Jazeera news network that most of the hostages in northern Gaza were now considered missing because of intense Israeli strikes there.

The left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Israeli military has said it suspected Hamza and Youssef were killed in one of its strikes, given their bodies were found next to those of dead militants. A military spokesperson said this week that Youssef Ziyadne had not died recently.

The military declined to comment on the cause of the hostages' deaths.

Reuters