Israel's chief military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, confirmed on Tuesday that 31 of the remaining hostages held in Gaza were pronounced dead.
Israel reported that 136 hostages are still being held in Gaza.
The confirmation comes after a document compiled by Israeli intelligence officers reported by the New York Times claimed 32 people had died as a result of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attack inside Israel on October 7.
The paper reported that four military sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that Israel was also evaluating unconfirmed intelligence, suggesting that at least 20 other hostages may have also been killed.
The circumstances of the hostage deaths remain unclear, with the Israeli authorities suggesting that many of those deaths had occurred during Hamas's deadly attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and at least another 240 taken hostage.
The circumstances behind the hostage deaths are still unknown, with the Israeli authorities suggesting that many of those deaths had occurred during Hamas's deadly attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the captivity of at least another 240.
The Israeli military said in a statement to the New York Times that they are deploying all available resources to locate and retrieve as much information regarding the hostages currently held by Hamas.
Blinken Discuss Truce Deal With Israel
On Tuesday, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with officials in Egypt and Qatar on his fifth journey to the Middle East since October. The three countries attempted to agree on releasing hostages and the war's first extended truce.
In November, a week-long ceasefire released over 100 prisoners, mostly women and children, in return for the release of 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The US's top diplomat started the day in Saudi Arabia before flying to Cairo and Doha to meet with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, who served as mediators in talks that resulted in an offer of a truce to Hamas last week.
Israel is continuing its offensive deep into parts of the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from earlier fighting. Israel announced that its troops had killed dozens of Palestinian gunmen in the last 24 hours.
The Palestinians hope that Blinken's negotiations would establish a ceasefire before Israeli forces invade Rafah, where over half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are sheltering, mainly in public buildings and tents made from sheets of plastic, hard against the border with Egypt.
The US and Israeli intelligence drew up the truce deal at a meeting with the Egyptians and Qataris over a week ago. The deal would guarantee the release of remaining hostages held by militants in Gaza in return for a long pause in fighting.
However, Israel claimed that it would not put an end to the conflict until Hamas was eliminated.
