Israel Says It Has Recovered the Body of Hamas Hostage
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 250 hostages taken in the bloody Hamas incursion onto Israeli territory last fall, as was his elderly mother, who 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.