IDF recovers bodies of two more murdered Israeli hostages from Gaza

The IDF announced on Wednesday night that it had recovered, in a military operation, the bodies of two dead hostages from Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.

One is Yair Yaakov, who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz and murdered on Oct. 7, 2023.

The name of the other hostage has not yet been cleared for publication.

This leaves 53 living and deceased hostages in Hamas captivity.

In the early afternoon, during searches in Khan Younis, combat soldiers from the 188th Brigade of Division 36 located a tunnel shaft and additional signs raising suspicion that abducted bodies were present. Yahalom troops arrived at the site, entered the shaft, and from there managed to locate the bodies, which were taken for examination at the Institute of Forensic Medicine.

The murdered hostage Yair Yaakov was recovered in the afternoon, after 614 days. His son Yagil eulogized him: "Dad, I love you. I don't yet know how to respond – it's sad for me to say this. I'm already waiting for your funeral. I love you, I knew this day would come. Thanks to the IDF and Shin Bet forces for the recovery. I hope the others will be brought back in a deal that won’t endanger soldiers."

On Oct. 7, Yair Yaakov (59) from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was abducted from his home along with his partner, Merav Tal, and his two sons, Or (16) and Yagil (12). On Feb.15, it was announced that Yair had already been murdered during the Hamas massacre, and his body was being held in Gaza. His partner Merav and their two sons were released as part of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas in November 2023.

On that Saturday morning, Merav still managed to inform her family that terrorists had broken into their home, shot at them, and wounded Yair. The terrorists documented the entire break-in at their home and their abduction. Their house was destroyed by gunfire, and they were documented as having been taken from the floor, terrified, with Yair still managing to show the terrorists that he was injured. Afterwards, the two were separated – Merav was not held with Yair in captivity and didn't know what had happened to him.

Yair was a father of three and worked in the car garage of Kibbutz Alumim. Kibbutz Nir Oz stated that "he was a modest, simple man, who loved family, the land, and music."

Yair’s son, Or, posted on social media after the announcement of his death: "Dad, I have no other words to describe this, but watch over me in heaven. I love you and will never forget you. You will always be in my heart."

Bodies of three hostages were returned to Israel last week

The return of the body of Yaakov and the other deceased hostage comes after three bodies of hostages were recovered last week. On Saturday, the IDF recovered from Gaza the body of abducted hostage Nattapong Pinta, who was murdered in captivity by the terrorist organization Kataib al-Mujahideen at the outbreak of the war. Pinta, a Thai citizen who was 35 at the time of his death, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7.

The IDF estimates that Pinta was murdered in the first months after being abducted alive from Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was one of three hostages whose lives were in serious doubt, and no information had been received about them since that "Black Shabbat."

Two days earlier, the IDF returned the bodies of the abducted deceased hostages Gadi Haggai and Judy Weinstein Haggai – residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz, who were murdered and abducted into Gaza on Oct. 7. The operation to recover their bodies was made possible thanks to information obtained during the interrogation of a terrorist by the Shin Bet.

"My beautiful parents have been released. We have certainty," wrote their daughter Iris. "We welcome the closure and their return for proper burial at home, in Israel. We want to thank the IDF and security forces who carried out the complex recovery operation and who have been fighting for us for more than a year and a half. However, our hearts will not be whole until all 12 hostages from Nir Oz, and all 56 hostages in total, are returned."

The IDF stated that the three hostages' bodies who were returned had been abducted and murdered by the Kataib al-Mujahideen organization – the same group that abducted Shiri Bibas, and her children, Ariel and Kfir, who were all murdered in captivity. Israeli security says that the same terrorist organization is also responsible for the abduction of another fallen soldier whose body still remains in Gaza.