Funeral Held in Israel for 19-Year-Old Israeli Soldier Taken Hostage by Hamas

On Friday, a funeral was held in Israel for Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier who was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. Her body was found near the Al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza this week, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The IDF said that targeted intelligence allowed them to locate the exact location of Marciano’s body. On Thursday, another hostage’s body, that of 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss, was also found near Al-Shifa.

The communications blackout in Gaza, now in its second day, has largely cut off the 2.3 million people from one another and the outside world. This has paralyzed the coordination of aid, which humanitarian groups were already struggling to deliver because of the fuel shortage.

The United Nations was forced to stop deliveries of food and other necessities to Gaza on Friday and warned of the growing possibility of widespread starvation after internet and telephone services collapsed in the besieged enclave because of a lack of fuel. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, was unable to bring in its aid convoy on Friday.

The IDF has claimed that Al-Shifa, home to Gaza’s largest hospital, sits above a main Hamas command center. The U.S. has said it also has evidence that Hamas has been using the hospital complex to hide weapons and other military equipment.

The IDF released a statement on Friday saying, “The national task before our eyes is to locate the missing and return the abducted persons home.”