Rudaeff was returned to Israel late Friday through the International Committee of the Red Cross. Hamas, the terrorist organization that abducted him, claimed he had been found during searches in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

According to the IDF, the information and intelligence in its possession indicate that Rudaeff, deputy security coordinator and a member of the emergency squad in Nir Yitzhak, was killed while defending the kibbutz on the morning of October 7, 2023. His body was taken by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization to Gaza. On May 7, 2024, he was officially declared dead.

Rudaeff is survived by his wife, four children, three grandchildren, his father, a sister and a brother.

He immigrated to Israel from Argentina in 1969 and had lived in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak ever since with his wife, Yaffa. The couple were married for 54 years and had four children: Noam, Nadav, Bar and Ben, the latter of whom survived the attack at the Re'im music festival.

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Haimi's family received notification on December 13, 2023, that he had been murdered on Oct. 7, 2023 after being classified as abducted since the Hamas attack.

Tal was a third-generation founder of Kibbutz Nir-Yitzhak and was connected with every fiber of his being to the kibbutz and served as one of the community's pillars. On October 7, Tal, part of the security team of his town, confronted the terrorists who had entered his kibbutz. He was murdered alongside his unit partner, Lior Rudaeff, and their bodies were abducted to Gaza. His family and friends recounted that he was always first to help, to lend a hand, and to bring calm and security to everyone around him.

Tal left behind his wife Ela, three children – 9-year-old twins and a 6-year-old son, his father Zahar and his sister Or. His wife was pregnant when he was abducted. In May 2024, she gave birth to their fourth child.

His family chose to conduct a funeral for him even before he was returned to Israel, when his wife Elah eulogized him: "My Tal, the thing most distant from you is that I would stand and speak in such a forum about me and you and us. But I must say goodbye. On October 7, part of me also died. Disintegrated. And now I need to rebuild. Trying to think about the life we had and what I am without you. After all, we were together more years than apart. I didn't go out to any challenge without you by my side. How much stability you brought into my life. You made me who I am. Everything they say about you – the quiet, the serenity, the composure and the wisdom – that's also what you were at home and many times over. The absence is enormous. You left me four gifts in your image. And I promise you here that this will be a happy home full of life."

She addressed her children and said: "Einav, Nir and Udi, your father was killed doing what he believed in more than anything – he protected us and the kibbutz, a kibbutz where he grew up and raised a family. He didn't hesitate for a moment when he left the house that morning."

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