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07-04-2024
JERUSALEM/ GAZA CITY: The Israeli military said Saturday that it had recovered the body of an Israeli hostage during an overnight raid in the Gaza Strip.
The body of Elad Katzir was returned to Israel after an operation in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the Israel Defense Forces said.
According to Israeli military intelligence, Katzir died while being held in captivity by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group that took part in the Oct. 7 attacks alongside Hamas, and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
The IDF expressed its deepest condolences to the family.In a Facebook post written in Hebrew, Katzir’s sister, Carmit Palty Katzir, took comfort in the return of her brother’s body, saying “Elad will have a grave in Nir Oz. We will not remain in uncertainty.”
She went on to sharply criticize the IDF and the Israeli government.
“He could have been saved if a deal was reached in time,” Carmit worte, noting that he was photographed alive twice while in captivity. “Our leadership is cowardly and driven by political considerations and that is why it did not happen.”
Katzir was taken hostage at age 47 by PIJ on Oct. 7 from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community near the Gaza border that was among the hardest hit by the Hamas-led attacks.
In December, Katzir appeared in a video released by Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of PIJ. Katzir pleaded for his release alongside another hostage who identified himself as Gadi Moses.
His mother, Hanna, was also taken hostage and subsequently released on Nov. 24 during the 7-day truce and hostage-prisoner exchange. Katzir’s father, Avraham-Rami Katzir, was killed during the attack on the kibbutz.
Katzir was born and raised in Nir Oz, where he worked on agricultural irrigation, and was the liaison between the kibbutz and the military.
The IDF reiterated that it will continue to locate and return the remaining 130 or so hostages in Gaza “until the task is complete.”
The operation to recover Katzir’s body comes as Hamas said it would send a delegation to join renewed talks for a hostage deal in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. President Joe Biden this week urged Israel to reach an immediate cease-fire agreement.
Israeli commandos recovered the body of hostage Elad Katzir, held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces and his family said Saturday, months after he was shown alive in two propaganda videos by the terror group.
The IDF said that according to its intelligence, Katzir, 47, was “murdered in captivity by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.”
The operation to retrieve the body was carried out by the Commando Brigade, following intelligence provided by the Shin Bet security agency and the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate.
“Following an identification procedure carried out overnight by medical officials at the National Center of Forensic Medicine, IDF and Shin Bet representatives informed the family of the late Elad Katzir about the recovery of his body,” the military said. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
