Israel reported Saturday that its forces had retrieved the remains of Elad Katzir, one of the 253 men, women, and children kidnapped in the Hamas assault on Oct. 7—and the country blamed his killing on the terrorist group Islamic Jihad.
According to the BBC, the Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli Security Agency jointly announced they had used intelligence to locate and recover Katzir’s body from a burial site in the Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Katzir was among the roughly hostages taken in the bloody Hamas incursion onto Israeli territory last fall, as was his elderly mother, whom the violent extremist organization released as part of a temporary ceasefire deal in late November. Katzir’s father was one of almost 1,200 people killed in the attack.
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The 47-year-old Katzir had seemed to appear in a hostage video Islamic Jihad released in January, urging an end to the ongoing war so that he might return home. His sister lashed out at the government online following the news of his death.
“Our leadership is cowardly and driven by political consideration, which is why this deal has not happened yet,” the BBC quoted her Facebook account as reading. “Prime Minister, war cabinet, and coalition members: Look at yourself in the mirror and say if your hands didn’t spill blood.”
The Israeli authorities maintained in their public statement that their “mission is to locate and return the abductees home.”
Some 34,000 residents of Gaza have been killed in the Israeli military campaign following the Oct. 7 attack, according to the Hamas-controlled local government.
