Professor Ofer Merin, the director of Shaare Zedek Medical Center and a member of a medical committee tasked with examining the hostages' conditions, revealed on Wednesday in an interview with Kan Radio that the decision to announce the death of Israeli-Argentinian hostage Lior Rudaeff from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on Tuesday came following a new video received over the past weekend.
"We received quite a few recorded materials," he says. "This is a video that wasn't available before. Hamas members were very involved in documentation – they were filmed with GoPro cameras among others. There are security cameras inside Gaza, and the IDF obtained the recorded materials. The committee, unfortunately, determined the deaths of more than 30 people, all of whom were also thanks in part to visual materials. We are constantly receiving new materials."
He added, "The committee was established about a week after the war began, with the understanding that we are not receiving any information from Hamas about who was kidnapped and in what condition they are. We received reports from people and saw footage from security cameras in the communities. Some of the kidnapped were dragged as bodies, and it was clear at an early stage. It took the state time to understand that out of 240 people, some were kidnapped as bodies and are no longer alive. We are committed on an ethical and psychological level to share with the families any information we have, and when the committee convenes – it takes us hours to go over the footage. We sit and analyze and go over it again and again. We convey our findings and try to be definitive because the committee's goal is to resolve any doubts. Whenever we can reach clear conclusions, we communicate them"
"None of those who returned saw him"
Rudaeff was known in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak as an ambulance driver in the regional council. He was always the first to volunteer and assist anyone in need. His main hobby was motorcycle riding, and he admired the Israeli singer Shlomo Artzi.
On Oct. 7, he heard gunshots outside the house and went out to help, then he was murdered and his body was kidnapped. "We know that Dad was injured because he managed to report it to the people in the kibbutz," his daughter Noam Katz said. "Contact with him was lost at 8:45a.m., and since then, we have no information about him."
"None of the hostages who returned saw him," Katz shared on the 100th day since he was kidnapped. "I never imagined it would take so long. On Saturday night, we discovered Dad was missing. I remember my husband told me, 'This is going to take a lot of time,' and I said, 'Of course.' I thought it would take two to three weeks. I never imagined we would reach this number of 100 days without a sign of life."
