The bodies of three hostages killed by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack have been recovered by the Israeli military, officials said Sunday.
Remains belonging to Ofra Keidar, 71; Yonatan Samerano, 21; and Israel Defense Forces soldier Shay Levinson, 19, were located on Saturday and taken back home after 625 days in Gaza.
Yonatan Samerano was a civilian who died on October 7, 2023, the military claimed. via REUTERS“The campaign to return the abductees continues continuously and is taking place in parallel with the campaign against Iran,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
“We will not rest until we return all of our abductees home — both the living and the dead.”
Keidar, a grandmother of seven who spent decades working as a dairy farmer at the Kibbutz Be’eri, was killed near her home during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Her husband, Sami Keidar, suffered from Parkinson’s and could not make it to his family’s safe room when Hamas broke into their home and gunned him down.
Ofra Keidar was killed during the October 7, 2023 attack. via REUTERSSamerano, of Tel Aviv, was attending the Nova music festival when the terrorists stormed the desert rave and killed more than 360 people.
Footage at the time of his death showed how a Hamas operative — who Israeli forces claimed worked at the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA — loaded Samerano’s body onto a jeep bound for Gaza.
Grieving father Kobi Samerano said the operation to retrieve his son’s body was conducted on what would have been his 23rd birthday.
“Yesterday was Yonati’s Hebrew birthday. On his 23rd birthday, on the very day he was born, our Yonati was rescued in a heroic operation by the brave soldiers of the IDF and the Shin Bet,” the dad wrote on Instagram.
The remains of soldier Shay Levinson have been recovered, according to Israeli authorities. via REUTERS“Yonati, we were blessed to live by your side for 21 and a half years of light,” he added. “You have returned to us, beloved son, wrapped in the light of heroism, of faith, of a nation united.”
Levinson was a tank commander stationed along the Gaza border during the terrorist assault, with his unit coming under attack near the Nova festival.
The discovery of the three bodies during a special operation by the IDF on Saturday was confirmed by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, which called for the return of all hostages in order for Israel’s national healing and recovery.
“Our hearts are with the Keidar, Samerano, and Levinson families today. Alongside the grief and pain, their return provides some comfort to the families who have waited in agony, uncertainty, and doubt for 625 days,” the organization said in a statement on Sunday.
The three are the latest whose bodies have been retrieved from Gaza during the newest stage of the war, which has seen Israel occupy nearly the entire Palestinian enclave.
With their retrieval, officials said 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
With Post wires
