Sisters of hostage whose body was recovered from Gaza: ‘We are broken’

After fleeing the Nova music festival on October 7th, Hanan Yablonka was unaccounted for until it was confirmed on January 24th that he was being held hostage in Gaza.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Avivit and Orit Yablonka, sisters of Israeli hostage Hanan Yablonka, described how they felt on Friday morning when the IDF informed them that they had retrieved their brother’s body from Gaza.

“We woke up to a black morning, we are crushed and broken, don’t know how to cope, couldn’t have imagined this,” the sisters said.

Hanan’s father Reuven describes receiving the sad news, “At seven in the morning, friends called me and asked if it was true, I had no idea what they wanted from me.”

“Apparently, it was announced on Telegram and other social media. At eight-thirty, we spoke with the IDF,” he added.

“I am proud of the IDF soldiers who brought Hanan back home, but I want all the hostages to be returned home. I will not rest until everyone is returned,” Reuven said.

Hanan Yablonka was a 42-year old father of two children, Liron, aged 9, and Emily, 12.

After fleeing the Nova music festival when Hamas attacked on October 7th, he was unaccounted for until it was confirmed on January 24th that he was being held hostage in Gaza.

On this news, Reuven Yablonka told Channel 12, “We now have hope. We’ve known for almost 100 days that he might have been captured – now we have received the positive news. We don’t know his condition, but we hope to understand more in the near future.”

Hana Yablonka had hypothyroidism and Addison’s disease for which he required medication, and he was one of the hostages who was supposed to have been treated with medications transferred to Gaza under the direction of Qatar.

However, according to reports in February, medication designated for the hostages were most likely never delivered to them.

The body of Hanan Yablonka was one of the three bodies of hostages from the Gaza Strip rescued during an overnight operation, the military announced on Friday.

Orión Hernández Radoux, 30, Hanan Yablonka, 42, and Michel Nisenbaum, 59, were all killed on October 7, and then abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Mefalsim region.

The bodies were recovered in Jabalia in northern Gaza during a joint operation between the IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) based on “precise intelligence” analyzed in the past few days.

Last week, Israel recovered from the enclave the bodies of hostages Shani Louk, 22, Amit Bouskila, 28, Ron Benjamin, 53, and Itzhak Gelerenter, 56.