The Israeli Army on Wednesday said it had recovered the body from the Gaza Strip of an Israeli citizen who was kidnapped by Hamas during its terrorist attack on Oct. 7 and held hostage, and was working to identify the remains of another body as a possible Israeli hostage.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), along with Israel’s intelligence services, located and recovered the body of Youssef Ziyadne, 53, from an underground tunnel in the area of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, and returned his body to Israel, it said. The IDF said Ziyadne was killed in captivity.
The IDF said it also had evidence related to Ziyadne’s son Hamza, who was also abducted on Oct. 7. Officials said the information raises serious concerns for his life, but did not confirm death.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said the bodies of Youssef and Hamza were recovered in an “heroic operation” and said he had grown close to the Ziyadne family, who accompanied him in meetings with world leaders to advocate for the hostages release, during his time as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“Even now, in these moments, we continue to do everything to fulfill our supreme moral obligation – the return of all the abductees, living and dead, to the Land of Israel,” he wrote in Hebrew on X.
“The pain of the Ziyadna family is the pain of all of us, and the memory of Yousef and Hamza will not be forgotten.