Another Israeli Hostage’s Body Recovered, the Death Angering His Family

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military said Saturday that it had recovered the body of an Israeli hostage who was abducted during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, almost six months after he was captured.

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 mid-January, 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.

Islamic Jihad released at least two videos of Katzir during his captivity. In the last, in early January, he said he had been held for more than 90 days and described hearing on the radio of the death of a close friend from Nir Oz.

The recovery of Katzir’s body added another tragic chapter to a grim saga for both the residents of Nir Oz and the Katzir family. On Oct. 7, over a quarter of the more than 400 residents of Nir Oz, were either killed or abducted in the attack, among them Katzir’s father, Avraham, who was killed, and his mother, Hanna, who was taken hostage, according to the Israeli military.

Hanna Katzir, 76, was released in November as part of a brief cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, in which more than 100 hostages were returned.

Palestinian militants still hold about 100 living hostages in the enclave, Israeli authorities say, and more than 30 others are presumed dead.