Israeli hostage’s body retrieved from Gaza for burial

Svirsky, 38, a Tel Aviv resident with dual German-Israeli citizenship, was visiting his elderly parents at Kibbutz Be’eri for Shabbat and the Simchat Torah holiday on Oct. 7, 2023.

By JNS

Israeli security forces retrieved the remains of slain hostage Itai Svirsky from the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said in a joint statement on Wednesday night.

“In a Shin Bet operation assisted by the IDF, the body of the hostage Itai Svirsky was brought for burial in Israel from Gaza,” the statement said. Svirsky’s family was said to have been informed on Wednesday after forensics determined that the body was indeed that of the captive.

Svirsky, 38, a Tel Aviv resident with dual German-Israeli citizenship, was visiting his elderly parents at Kibbutz Be’eri for Shabbat and the Simchat Torah holiday on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists launched the cross-border raid. Both of his parents were murdered by Hamas.

On Jan. 16, the kibbutz announced that Svirsky and fellow hostage Yossi Sharabi were killed in captivity. The confirmation came shortly after Hamas released a propaganda video purporting to show their bodies.

An estimated 10% of the 1,100 residents who lived in Be’eri were killed in the Oct. 7 attacks, with an equal number of its residents kidnapped during the murder spree and infiltration of Israel’s southern border.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that followed the announcement on Wednesday, “The heart breaks at the heavy loss of the Svirsky family, which also lost Itai’s parents, Orit and Rafi of blessed memory, who were murdered in Hamas’s deadly attack.”

“We will continue to take determined and relentless action to return all of our hostages, the living and the deceased,” the Israeli leader vowed.