Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in southern Gaza where they were apparently killed not long before Israeli troops reached them, the military said on Sunday.

The Israeli military announced the recovery of the bodies from underground in the southern city of Rafah as a polio vaccination campaign began in the war-shattered territory and violence flared in the occupied West Bank.

The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino have been returned to Israel, military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in a briefing.

“According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure after nearly 11 months of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza to reach a deal that includes a ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages, said Israel would not rest until it caught those responsible.

“Whoever murders hostages - does not want a deal,” he said.

Senior Hamas officials said that Israel, in its refusal to sign a ceasefire agreement, was to blame for the deaths.

“Netanyahu is responsible for the killing of Israeli prisoners,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. “The Israelis should choose between Netanyahu and the deal.”

The recovered bodies were from about 250 hostages captured during the Hamas-led shock incursion into southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza on October 7 last year.

Their deaths leaves 101 Israeli and foreign captives still in Gaza, but around a third of these are known to have died, with the fate of others unknown. About 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas assault, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, at least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the enclave’s health ministry says.

Sunday’s news that more hostage bodies had been recovered was likely to spur further protests by Israelis demanding a hostage release deal.

The Hostage Families Forum called on Netanyahu to take responsibility and explain what was holding up an agreement.

“They were all murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture, and starvation in Hamas captivity. The delay in signing the deal has led to their deaths and those of many other hostages,” it said.

Israel’s Hagari said that days earlier, hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a member of the Bedouin community in southern Israel, was rescued about a kilometre away.

After Alkadi was located, troops were told to be cautious because other hostages might be in the area, but there had been no precise information on their location, he said.