An elderly Israeli taken hostage by Hamas militants was pronounced dead. 

"It is with heavy hearts that we received the news this morning of the murder of our dear friend Shlomo Mansour, 86, who was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Kissufim during the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023," the community said of the Iraqi-born Israeli. 

The Israeli military issued a statement saying "the decision to confirm his death was based on intelligence gathered in recent months."

One of the founders of Kibbutz Kissufim, Mansour was kidnapped during the Hamas attack on southern Israel. 

His wife Mazal Mansour, with whom he has lived for 60 years, managed to escape the attack. They have five children. 

"This is one of the most difficult days in the history of our kibbutz," the community said in a statement quoted by AFP.

"For us, Shlomo was much more than a community member - he was a father, a grandfather, a true friend and the beating heart of Kissufim. We are heartbroken that we could not bring him back to us alive," it said.

The kibbutz called on the Israeli government and world leaders "to continue to act decisively to bring back all hostages, both the living and the dead, and not to allow painful stories like Shlomo's to be repeated." 

The fragile truce reached last month between Hamas and Israel appears strained after Hamas threatened to postpone the release of Israeli hostages scheduled for Saturday, February 15.

US President Donald Trump has warned that "all hell" will break loose if every Israeli hostage is not released from Gaza within the next few days - a threat that Hamas says "further complicates matters". | BGNES