The Israeli army and Kibbutz Nir Oz announced Friday that an Israeli-American hostage died when he was abducted during the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on Oct. 7 and whose remains are still in the Gaza Strip.
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Gadi Haggaï, 73, “was killed on October 7th in the kibbutz. “His body was returned by the terrorists to the Gaza Strip, where he is being held,” Nir Oz said in a statement, without specifying how news of the death was conveyed to him.
The Israeli military confirmed that he died on October 7.
According to a press release from the Hostage Families Forum, Gadi Haggaï's wife Judith, 70, is still hostage in Palestinian territory where fighting is raging between Hamas and Israel.
The couple was “on their usual morning walk” when commandos from the Islamist movement entered their kibbutz near the Gaza Strip, the forum said.
Judith Haggaï “was able to tell her friends that they had been shot (…) this is the last contact with them,” says a press release from this source.
As a 70-year-old former teacher, she is considered the oldest woman hostage in Gaza.
“I want to believe she is still alive, but (…) I'm not sure,” her son Ahl Haggaï said in an interview with AFP this month.
Around 250 people were taken hostage in the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, leaving around 1,140 people dead, according to a count by the AFP news agency based on current official figures. According to the Israeli authorities, 129 people are still being held in Gaza today.
A ceasefire valid from November 24 to December 1 allowed the release of 105 hostages in Gaza, including 80 in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The Hamas attack in Israel, the deadliest since the founding of the state in 1948, killed around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to local authorities.
According to the ruling Hamas authorities, at least 20,057 people, mostly women, children and teenagers, have been killed since the Israeli army's offensive in Gaza began.