Another Israeli hostage's body is recovered
JERUSALEM >> The Israeli military said Saturday that it had recovered the body of a man who was taken hostage during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.
The man, identified as Elad Katzir, 47, was a farmer in Nir Oz, a kibbutz near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip that was one of the areas hardest hit in the attack Oct. 7, in which 1,200 Israelis died and about 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. His body was recovered by troops in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza where the Israeli army has been operating since December, and returned to Israel overnight, the military said.
After the announcement of the recovery and return of Katzir's body, Katzir's sister, Carmit, bitterly denounced the Israeli government in a social media post for failing to secure her brother's release.
“He could have been saved if there had been a deal in time,” she wrote. “But our leadership are cowards, motivated by political considerations, and thus it did not happen.”
Katzir was killed in midJanuary, an Israeli military official told a news briefing Saturday, while being held in Gaza by a militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Around 8 p.m. Friday, the official said, Israeli forces arrived in southern Khan Younis, isolated the area and excavated his body from where he was buried underground.
In an interview with The New York Times in 2009, after Palestinian rocket attacks led to a deadly threeweek Israeli offensive against Hamas in Gaza, Katzir said that he felt a nagging unease in Nir Oz, where he was born.
“I do not feel any victory,” Katzir said at the time, when the fighting had ended with a shaky cease-fire. “I still do not feel safe.”
On Oct. 7, Katzir sent voice messages to a local WhatsApp group intended for emergencies: There were terrorists in the kibbutz, he said, and they were moving from house to house. “We need help as soon as possible.” No such help was forthcoming as the Israeli military struggled to regain control of towns and major junctions near Gaza.