The announcement comes as Israel launched ceremonies on Monday marking the first anniversary of the Hamas attack, on October 7, 2023. The Families Forum, which brings together families of hostages, announced the death of a Israeli hostage held in Gaza, Idan Shtivi, who was 28 years old. He was kidnapped during the Nova music festival, the scene of a massacre which cost the lives of 370 participants. His body is still being held by the Palestinian Islamist movement, the association indicates in a press release.
“Idan Shtivi (28 years old) was a lover of nature, photography and animals. He had a special bond with dogs and other animals,” the families write, specifying that the twenty-year-old “was preparing to begin his second year of studies in sustainable development and government at Reichman University.”
“This altruistic choice ultimately led to his kidnapping”
“Always thinking of others, Idan was known for his altruism and his willingness to sacrifice for those around him,” also salutes the Forum. According to the latter, the young man had gone early to the Nova music festival, on October 7, “to document his friends’ performances and workshops.”
“But he never managed to enter the festival grounds. When the attack began, Idan helped two strangers he had just met escape the site. This altruistic choice ultimately led to his kidnapping,” says the press release. Idan Shtivi “leaves behind his parents, Eli and Dalit, three brothers and sisters, and his companion, Stav,” he concludes, without specifying in what circumstances the hostage was killed.
His relatives had tirelessly called for his release. Last December, a demonstration was organized to demand his return, with a ride on horseback from Modiin, in eastern Israel, to Jerusalem. “I think in a week all the kidnapped people will be released. That’s really what I want,” his father, Eli Shtivi, said at the time.
In total, 251 hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip during the massacres of the Palestinian movement. Idan Shtivi was among the 97 hostages still held to this day. With his death, the number of people declared dead now rises to 34.
VideoDemonstrations, clashes, general strike… tension rises in Israel for the release of hostages
Israel commemorates this Monday the victims of the unprecedented attack of October 7, and the first tributes have already begun. In Réïm, on the site of the Nova music festival, a collected crowd kicked off these ceremonies with a minute of silence at precisely 6:29 a.m. (5:29 a.m. in Paris), the time at which Hamas launched its offensive on the southern Israel.
Just before, the hypnotic sounds of the last music heard on this site, a year earlier, resonated for a few minutes in front of a crowd of bereaved families, many in tears, some wearing the faces of their slain loved one on their clothes. When the music was abruptly cut off, as was the case on the day of the attack, a cry of distress broke the silence.
Later today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the nation. Other gatherings are planned in Tel Aviv or in Nir Oz, a kibbutz where around thirty residents were killed and more than 70 taken hostage and taken to Gaza. Elsewhere, from Sydney to Berlin, from Buenos Aires to New York, numerous gatherings or ceremonies will mark the anniversary of this surprise offensive which left 1,205 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on the figures. Israeli officials, including hostages who died in captivity. In France, 4,000 people are expected at the Dôme de Paris for a tribute ceremony.
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