A man sits in a cage with a portrait of 47-year-old Israeli hostage Elad Katsir as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages demonstrate in Tel Aviv on March 26.
Jack Ghez/AFP via Getty Images
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Jack Ghez/AFP via Getty Images
A man sits in a cage with a portrait of 47-year-old Israeli hostage Elad Katsir as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages demonstrate in Tel Aviv on March 26.
Jack Ghez/AFP via Getty Images
The Israeli military announced on Saturday that it had recovered the body of Elad Katzir, 47, who was kidnapped and held in Gaza during the Hamas-led offensive on Israel on October 7.
Katsir was from Nir Oz, a kibbutz near the Gaza border. The small community of 400 residents became one of the hardest hit communities in Israel on October 7th.
Approximately 50 people, including Katsir's father, were killed, and 77 people, including Katsir's mother, were abducted. She was then released alive on November 24 as part of a temporary cease-fire agreement.
israeli army Said Gaza forces recovered Katsir's body overnight in Khan Yunis, south of Gaza. His remains were brought back to Israel. The Israeli military said Katsir was killed in captivity.
Katsir's sister Kermit Parti said in a Facebook post that her brother would be buried in Nir Oz.
She also expressed her dissatisfaction with the Israeli government, accusing it of not doing enough to secure his and other Israeli hostages' freedom as soon as possible.
In an interview with NPR published last month, Kermit Parti said his brother had always been eager to return to Israel the hostages and their bodies held in Gaza before the Oct. 7 attack.
She added that her brother had been protesting weekly with the families of Israeli soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were captured in Israel's 2014 war in Gaza. He often said, “I can't give up on them,'' Kermit Partey recalled.
Katsir's mother, Hana, was one of the first hostages released during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in November. Kermit Parti said her mother returned “thin and scared,” but she didn't know what had happened to her husband or her son.
“Even though she didn't know anything, she cried for them,” Kermit Parti said.
Between December and January, the Islamic Jihad militant group released two videos in which Katsir begs viewers for help. The recovery of his body took place approximately six months after his abduction and the start of the war.
Israel says the Oct. 7 Hamas attack killed about 1,200 people. About 130 hostages are still being held captive, although some are known to have died.
Since then, more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, according to Gaza health officials. Israel's war in Gaza also caused mass displacement of Palestinians and severe malnutrition among Palestinian children.
Talks are underway between Israel and Hamas about a new ceasefire, but no agreement has been reached.
