The Israeli military said Monday that an additional four hostages who were abducted in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel were “no longer alive.” Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought Monday to keep his government from unraveling over a new Israeli cease-fire proposal, as two key right-wing ministers doubled down on threats to leave the government.

The military identified the hostages as Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, said at a news briefing Monday that the men were believed to have been killed together “several months ago” near Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, while Israeli forces were operating in the area.

Hagari said the decision to announce the hostages’ deaths Monday was based on “additional intelligence, which had been verified recently, making it possible to determine today that the four are no longer alive,” adding that he knew “difficult questions” would arise about the circumstances of their deaths. The families of the four had been notified that their bodies were being held by Hamas, and the circumstances of their deaths were “still under examination,” the Israeli military said.

A spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, Abu Ubaida, had said March 1 that three of the men — Cooper, Metzger and Perry — were among seven hostages who had been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

Hamas said on May 11 that the fourth man, Popplewell, had died from injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike more than a month before, and that he had not been able to receive proper medical care because of Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s hospitals. Earlier that day, Hamas had released an undated video of him in captivity.

For months, Netanyahu has been trying to navigate the countervailing pressures from Israel’s allies who are seeking a halt in the fighting and his right-wing coalition partners who are pushing for a continued battle against Hamas.

Then on Friday, President Joe Biden stepped up the pressure, declaring it was time for the war to end and outlining a new cease-fire proposal that he said Israel had endorsed. The move intensified pressure on Netanyahu to bring the war to a close, but he might not be able to do that without losing his grip on power.

The domestic political difficulties Netanyahu faces became evident Monday when the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is key to his governing coalition, declared again that he would not accept the latest proposal, if it left Hamas intact.

He said his party would pull out of the government if Israel moved forward with such an agreement. Without Ben-Gvir’s six parliamentary seats, Netanyahu would likely struggle to remain in office.