Israeli commandos have recovered the body of a hostage held in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said on Saturday, three months after he pleaded for his release in a video issued by his Palestinian Islamic Jihad captors.
The body of hostage Elad Katzir was rescued by security forces overnight from Khan Yunis and returned to Israeli territory.
Elad Katzir was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization during the October 7 Massacre. His mother, Hanna, was also…
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 6, 2024
Elad Katzir, a 47-year-old farmer from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was among 253 people dragged into Gaza during an Oct. 7 cross-border rampage by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists that triggered Israel's ongoing offensive in the enclave. "We received horrific news. Elad was brought to Israel overnight, after he was murdered in captivity," his sister Carmit Palty Katzir wrote on Facebook.
Video: IDF troops in Khan Younis / Credit: IDF
Katzir was killed by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the military statement said, citing intelligence information which it did not detail.
There was no immediate comment on the Telegram channel used by Palestinian Islamic Jihad during the war.
Katzir's father, Avraham, was among some 1,200 people killed in Israel on Oct. 7, according to official tallies, while his mother Hanna was also taken hostage but freed in November under a ceasefire with Hamas, Gaza's dominant Islamist movement.
Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been trying, so far fruitlessly, to secure another truce that might return some of the 129 remaining hostages. Hamas wants any deal to end the war, which Gaza health officials say has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians. But Israel intends to fight on until Hamas falls.
Based on various sources of information, Israel has declared at least 35 hostages as dead in Gaza captivity. Palestinian factions have said some were killed in Israeli strikes. While confirming this in several cases, Israel says that, in others, hostages whose bodies were recovered bore signs of execution.
