The Israeli army announced this Saturday that it had recovered the body of a hostage held by the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad since the October 7 attack. Elad Katzir was 47 years old and reportedly killed in mid-January.
A new victim has been reported. The Israeli army announced this Saturday that it had recovered during the night the body of a hostage kidnapped on October 7 and killed according to it in captivity. Elad Katzir, who was 47 years old at the time of his kidnapping from Kibbutz Nir Oz, “was killed in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization,” the army and the Shin Bet (domestic intelligence) said in a joint statement.
His death dates back to mid-January, a few days after the broadcast by Islamic Jihad of a video in which the hostage called on the Israeli government to do everything to obtain his release, said an Israeli military official, reports AFP .
The body of Elad Katzir was located on “information”, “buried in the ground” in the south of Khan Younes, where an operation was launched Friday evening to recover it. Israeli forces exhumed him overnight before repatriating him to Israel, where he was formally identified.
his mother also taken hostage then released
His mother Hanna was also taken hostage before being released on November 24 as part of the only truce in six months of war between Israel and Hamas. His father Avraham was killed the day of the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on the kibbutz.
For Mr. Katzir’s sister, freeing him alive “could have been possible if an agreement on the hostages had been reached in time. Our leaders are cowardly and driven by political considerations, which is why an agreement has not yet been reached.” she declared.
“Prime minister, war cabinet, members of the (governmental) coalition. Look at yourself in the mirror and say that your hands are not covered in this blood,” Carmit Palty Katzir pointed out on his Facebook account.
More than 250 people were kidnapped during the October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel and taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip, where 129 remain detained, including, according to the Israeli military , more than 30 died.
