Two slain hostages returned from Gaza
"The body of Yair Yaakov, as well as the body of another hostage, who were held hostage for 613 days in Gaza, have been recovered," stated the IDF.
Israeli security forces recovered the body of slain hostage Yair Yaakov and a second captive from the Khan Yunis area of the southern Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Wednesday evening.
“The body of Yair Yaakov, as well as the body of another hostage, who were held hostage for 613 days in Gaza, have been recovered in a joint IDF and ISA military operation,” stated the IDF, using the acronym for the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) internal security service.
The name of the second slain hostage whose remains were recovered has yet to be publicly identified, pending notification of the family.
Yaakov was “brutally murdered by gunfire while heroically holding the door of the safe room in his home, trying to protect his family” in the border village of Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Oct. 7, 2023. He was 59 when he was killed, with the IDF confirming his death in February 2024.
Yaakov’s children, Yagil and Or, were kidnapped along with his partner, Meirav Tal, the military said, noting that the three were redeemed from terror captivity during the November 2023 ceasefire-for-hostages deal.
The operation was conducted on Wednesday by the IDF’s 36th Division, aka the Rage Formation, operating under its Southern Command. It was launched following precise intelligence gathered by the military’s task force for hostages, the Military Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet).
After their recovery from the Strip, the bodies were transferred to the National Center of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv for full identification. The Hostages and Missing Persons Headquarters then notified the victims’ families and the Nir Oz community.
“The IDF and Shin Bet extend their condolences to the families and will continue to make every effort to bring back all the hostages,” they said.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, extended their “heartfelt condolences to the families that have lost what is dearest to them.”
“I thank the fighters and commanders for another successful operation in the sacred mission to return our hostages,” Netanyahu stated. “We will neither rest nor be silent until we return home all of our hostages—the living and the deceased.”
Fifty-three hostages remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip—613 days after the massacre on Oct. 7, 2023. Jerusalem believes that at least 20 of the captives are still alive. PJC
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