Palestinian fighters take a captured Israeli soldier during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood (social networking sites)

The Israeli occupation army revealed the killing of Captain Daniel Peretz, a platoon leader in the 77th Battalion, on October 7, during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, adding that his body is still being held by Hamas.

The army said in a statement issued on Sunday that the officer, who was previously classified as a detained prisoner, was found to have been killed and his body was with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

According to Anatolia News Agency, this brings the number of deaths among the Israeli army since the 7th of last October to 592 officers and soldiers, including 249 since the start of the ground attack on Gaza, on the 27th of the same month.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of victims, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction and a humanitarian catastrophe, which led to Israel being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing genocide.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation: Captain Daniel Peretz, a platoon leader in the 77th Battalion, was killed on October 7, and his body is detained in #Gaza #Al Jazeera_Live #Al-Aqsa Flood pic.twitter.com/vHRhXHaYY7

- Al Jazeera Live (@ajmubasher) March 17, 2024

Agence France-Presse said that Peretz's father participated on Saturday evening in a massive march calling for the liberation of Israelis detained in Gaza, and quoted him as saying that "all the kidnapped people who were taken from their beds and those who defended their people must return without conditions."

According to the same agency, confirming his death brings to 33 the number of hostages who died, according to the Israeli authorities, out of a total of 130 hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip.

Yesterday, Sunday, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy announced that the military institution bears responsibility for the failure of the October 7 attack.

Halevy stressed that there is still a long way to go to achieve the goals of the war, and expressed the army's readiness to expand the military operation in the Gaza Strip in accordance with the decisions of the political level, he said.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies