Israeli man thought to be in captivity found buried in Israel

Elyakim Libman, who was believed to be Hamas hostage, was mistakenly buried alongside another October 7th victim.

By World Israel News Staff

The family of a man slain on October 7th, who for the last seven months was classified as a hostage held in the Gaza Strip, announced on Friday that his body was discovered.

Elyakim Libman, who was 24 at the time of his murder, was a security guard at the Nova Festival. According to eyewitnesses, Libman heroically rescued partygoers while under fire from terrorists.

Victoria Gorlov and Alex Shmailov, who were engaged to be married and worked as security guards at the festival alongside Libman, were also slain that day.

Following an extensive investigation by forensic authorities, Libman’s remains were discovered in a graveyard in the central Israel city of Holon.

He had been mistakenly buried in the same grave as Gorlov, in a shared plot next to her fiancé Shmailov, shortly after the massacre.

Libman’s remains were recovered and will be re-buried in his hometown of Hebron, on Sunday.

“After 200 days and nights of searching, worrying, praying, and tears, we were informed with great sadness that our son, Elyakim, may God avenge his blood, is no longer living,” said Libman’s parents, Eliyahu and Avishag, in a media statement.

“During our pain and heartbreak, we continue to pray for the safe return of all the hostages, and with God’s help, for the complete victory of the people of Israel over our vile enemies.”

Yulia Gorlov, the mother of the woman with whom Libman was buried, said she “could not stop crying” since being informed about the mistake.

“I feel like I’ve buried my daughter all over again,” she told Ynet.

“It’s hard for me to talk about Victoria and the fact that they found another person in my daughter’s grave. I felt horrible from the moment they told me.”

Notably, there have been several other cases of multiple bodies buried together following the October 7th terror onslaught, along with misidentification of victims.