The death of the last Canadian woman missing since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 was finally confirmed on Thursday.
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Kibbutz Nir Oz on the outskirts of Gaza announced that Judith Weinstein Haggai, who held Israeli, American and Canadian citizenship, died when she was kidnapped during the Hamas attack on October 7, six days after her husband's death was announced under similar circumstances.
“It is with heavy hearts that we learned of the death of Judy Weinstein today […]. I met her family who described her as a loving, kind and compassionate person. Canada mourns his loss with his family and loved ones,” commented Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.
Judith Weinstein Haggai “was injured during the October 7 massacre, and it has now been approved to publish that she was killed this Saturday” after she succumbed to her injuries, the kibbutz said in a statement.
At 70, she was portrayed as the oldest woman imprisoned in the Gaza Strip.
According to the kibbutz, she was a “mother of four children and grandmother of seven grandchildren” and worked as an “English teacher for children with special educational needs or those with attention and concentration problems.”
Kibbutz Nir Oz announced on Wednesday the death of her husband Gadi Haggai, 73, also held hostage in Gaza, under the same circumstances. US President Joe Biden said he was “broken by the news”.
According to the kibbutz, the couple's remains are still in the Gaza Strip.
“I want to believe she’s still alive, but […] I’m not sure,” Judith Weinstein Haggai’s son Ahl Haggai said in an interview with AFP this month.
Joe Biden said he “continues to pray” that she is in good health and would return home safe and sound.
In the bloody Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, around 250 people were taken hostage and around 1,140 people were killed, 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.
According to the ruling Hamas authorities, at least 21,320 people have been killed – mostly women, children and teenagers – since the start of the Israeli army's offensive in Gaza.
With the QMI agency