2024-04-08 05:52:08
The Israeli army announced, on Saturday, the recovery of the body of the hostage, Elad Katzir, from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, in a joint army operation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet).
Katzir was killed while in detention after being kidnapped by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement along with his mother, during the October 7 attacks on Israel, according to a joint statement by the army and the Shin Bet.
The joint statement said that the recovery of Katzir’s body and its return to Israel came “based on the direction of the General Security Service (Shin Bet) and the Military Intelligence Service, and its precise location was determined by the Aguz unit.”
The Israeli army did not reveal how the body was found or the mechanism for recovering it from the city of Khan Yunis, where fierce battles are taking place between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
Katsir was kidnapped by the Islamic Jihad movement along with his mother after the militants launched an attack on Kibtus Nir Oz during the bloody attacks on October 7. His father was also killed in those attacks, according to the Israeli army.
His mother was released on November 24, when a week-long truce allowed a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in exchange for the release of a number of hostages and a number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Hamas, the Palestinian movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is classified by Washington as a terrorist organization, launched an attack on Israel on October 7, which led to the killing of about 1,170 people, most of them civilians, including women and children, according to a tally prepared by Agence France-Presse based on official Israeli figures. .
The Palestinian attackers kidnapped about 250 hostages, about 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 that the Israeli army says are dead.
The Israeli military campaign in Gaza led to the killing of more than 33,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in the Strip.
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2024-04-08 05:52:08