Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two Israeli-Americans taken back to Gaza as hostages during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military says.
Their bodies were found in the southern Khan Younis area of Gaza overnight and brought back to Israel for forensic identification.
There are now 56 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive against Hamas two weeks later, collapsing a two-month truce during which 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai hostages were freed.
On 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Netanyahu said would see troops “take control of all areas” of Gaza.
According to the Israeli military, Israeli forces have retrieved the bodies of two Israeli-Americans who were taken as hostages during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and returned to Gaza.
According to a statement, gunmen from the Mujahideen Brigades group attacked Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed Judi Weinstein Haggai, 70, a Canadian citizen, and her husband Gadi Haggai, 72.
Overnight, their bodies were discovered in the southern Gazan neighborhood of Khan Younis and transported to Israel for forensic analysis.
Hamas is currently holding 56 hostages in Gaza, with at least 20 of them thought to be still alive.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he and his spouse expressed their sympathies to the families of Gadi Haggai and Judi.
“We are deeply saddened by this awful loss. “May their memories be blessed,” he continued.
“I want to thank and show my appreciation to the commanders and fighters for this decisive and successful operation. Until we get all of our hostages—both the living and the dead—home, we won’t stop or remain silent. “.
Families of the couple remembered that they “went out for a walk on the morning of that cursed Saturday and never returned.”.
“We applaud the resolution and their return to a dignified burial in Israel, at home,” they declared.
In a video they posted to a group chat at the beginning of the October 7 attack, English teacher Judi and Gadi Haggai, who had previously worked in the kitchen of Kibbutz Nir Oz, were last seen alive. As incoming rockets from Gaza streaked overhead and gunfire could be heard, they were observed seeking shelter in a field.
Before cutting off communication, Judi later disclosed to friends and family that they had been hurt.
According to Iris Weinstein Haggai, the couple’s daughter, her mother informed her that they had been “shot by terrorists on a motorcycle and that my dad was wounded really bad” following the attack. “Paramedics attempted to send her an ambulance,” she continued. The rocket struck the ambulance. “.”.
According to the kibbutz’s December 2023 announcement, Judi and Gadi were both killed that day, and their bodies were being held captive in Gaza.
The couple’s bodies were found in the Khan Younis area on Wednesday, according to an Israeli military official, after an operation based on “precise intelligence” from the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
They claimed that because the operation was sensitive, they were unable to provide any more information. The information was gathered, however, by the Shin Bet through questioning of a Palestinian combatant who had been taken prisoner by Israeli forces in Gaza, according to Israeli Army Radio.
In order to bring our hostages back, we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that the deceased are buried with dignity and the living are reunited with their families. We will use every technique and resource available to us to achieve this objective,” the military official declared.
In order to ensure the return of all the remaining hostages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged decision-makers to exert every effort to reach a new ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
The statement read, “There is no need to wait another 608 agonizing days for this.”. We can finish the mission as early as tomorrow morning. The vast majority of Israelis agree with this. “,”.
Nearly 20 months after the historic cross-border attack in Gaza that left roughly 1,200 people dead and 251 hostage, Israel began a military campaign in the territory.
Prior to the conflict, four more people were already being held captive in Gaza, two of whom had already died.
Two short-term ceasefire agreements with Hamas have largely resulted in the return of 199 hostages, 148 of whom are still alive.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reports that at least 54,677 people have died in the conflict.
Following a two-month truce in which 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai hostages were released, Israel imposed a complete blockade on Gaza on March 2 and launched a military offensive against Hamas two weeks later. Putting pressure on Hamas to free the remaining hostages was Israel’s stated goal.
Netanyahu stated that troops would “take control of all areas” of Gaza as part of the Israeli military’s enlarged offensive, which began on May 19. In addition, Israel partially relaxed its blockade, permitting some food to enter the region despite experts’ warnings of impending famine.
Israeli ground operations and evacuation orders have reportedly resulted in the displacement of 640,000 people in Gaza and the reported deaths of over 4,400 people in the last three months.
Israel and Hamas are still at odds over the terms of the most recent US proposal, which dampened hopes of a new ceasefire agreement last week.
In exchange for a 60-day truce and the release of Palestinian prisoners, Hamas said it was willing to release 10 hostages who were still alive and the bodies of 18 hostages who had died, as stipulated in the proposal made by US envoy Steve Witkoff.
The organization, however, reiterated its calls for assurances that the ceasefire would result in a permanent one, Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, and the restoration of unhindered aid supplies.
Israel described the statement from Hamas as a rejection of the proposal, while Witkoff called it completely unacceptable. A Hamas official, however, maintained that it had behaved honorably and responsibly.
