The body of an Israeli hostage, who was held in the Gaza Strip and whose body was returned to Israel, was identified a few days after his repatriation, the army announced Friday in a statement. “Following the conclusion of the review process by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israeli Police, this morning (Friday) army officials notified the family” Zayadna that their son Hamza, who was being held in hostage in the Gaza Strip, “was killed in captivity by Hamas,” the text indicates.
The Israeli army announced on Wednesday that the body of Hamza’s father, Youssef Zayadna, had been repatriated after being found in a tunnel in the Rafah region, in the south of the Gaza Strip. After unverified reports of Hamza’s death, the army confirmed on Friday that his body had also been brought back.
During the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, Youssef and Hamza al-Zayadna, Bedouins aged 53 and 22 respectively, were kidnapped from Kibbutz Holit, in the south-west. western Israel, where they were participating in the olive harvest, according to Israeli authorities.
