Gazan terrorists claimed the Nir Oz resident had been killed in an Israeli airstrike – before freeing her in the only hostage deal to date.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Hannah Katzir, 76, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz who had been kidnapped by Gazan terrorists during the October 7 invasion and then released in a hostage deal last November, died Tuesday.

“With great sorrow, we announce the passing of Kibbutz member Hannah Katzir, of blessed memory, following a prolonged struggle with complex medical issues after her release from captivity,” a statement from the kibbutz said.

She was buried Tuesday afternoon in the community’s cemetery.

Katzir was brutally dragged from her home and held captive in Gaza by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists working in tandem with Hamas, the ruling terror group in the Strip.

Her husband, Rami, was murdered during the attack on their kibbutz.

Her son Elad was taken captive as well and subsequently murdered in Gaza. IDF forces conducted a rescue operation in April in Khan Yunis to return his body for burial in Israel.

She was freed seven weeks later along with 12 other women and children in the first release of hostages by Hamas in exchange for a temporary ceasefire, female and underage Palestinian security prisoners, and increased humanitarian aid.

Several days before her release, the PIJ cruelly announced that she had died, saying on Telegram that they had been “willing” to free her for humanitarian reasons but “the enemy’s procrastination led to the loss of her life.”

A month after she was abducted along with 250 others, PIJ released a propaganda video of Katzir and 12-year-old Yagil Yaakov, another Nir Oz resident, who was released in a subsequent exchange.

They appeared to read from prepared scripts, criticizing the Israeli government’s military operations in Gaza and praising the treatment they were receiving.

“I am in a place that is not mine. I miss home, my children, my husband, Rami, and my whole dear, beloved family,” Katzir also said in the clip, not knowing until she came back that Rami was dead and Elad was kidnapped.

Katzir went public after her release, sharing how she was thrown onto a motorcycle and fell off during her abduction, how the terrorists threw stones at her, and how she spent the first several days of captivity alone until joining other hostages in subhuman conditions with little to eat.

Her daughter, Carmit, said a few days after her mother’s arrival that she was “not in a good physical state because she didn’t receive the medication she needed. She lost 20 kilos and obviously overcame a major trauma.”

Within two weeks, she was hospitalized in critical condition. Carmit subsequently wrote that her mother had come back from Gaza “both heartbroken and with serious cardiological issues, including broken heart syndrome.”

Described by family and friends as a woman with “a big heart,” who worked for many years as a devoted caretaker in the kibbutz, her heart finally gave out, Carmit said upon her mother’s death.

“Mom was a devoted wife, a loving mother, and a woman who embodied pure love. Her heart couldn’t withstand the unbearable pain since October 7,” she said.

Katzir leaves behind two living children and six grandchildren.

The post Released hostage Hannah Katzir dies appeared first on World Israel News.

‘I was close to dying more than once, it’s a miracle I’m still alive.’

By The Algemeiner

Elad Katzir, an Israeli farmer held hostage in Gaza for over three months, was seen pleading for his freedom in a video posted online by Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad on Monday.

Hamas, which rules Gaza, and its smaller ally Islamic Jihad have periodically released videos of hostages taken during Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border rampage into southern Israel.

“I was close to dying more than once, it’s a miracle I’m still alive,” Katzir said, a black and yellow Islamic Jihad flag hung from a wall behind him. “I want to tell my family that I love them very much and I miss them very much,” he said, before pausing to choke back tears.

Typically, hostage videos have been filmed in front of a wall in poor lighting, with captives reciting calls for their release. The men, like Katzir in the latest video, often have full beards. The Israeli military has said the videos amount to “psychological terror.”

More than 130 hostages remain in Gaza, most believed to be in Hamas’s hands after more than 100 were released during a short-lived truce in late November.

Israel says it will press on with its devastating military offensive in Gaza until Hamas is wiped out, all captives are freed, and the Palestinian enclave poses no more security threat. Hamas has said it will free no more hostages at least until Israel halts the war.

Katzir, 47, was snatched by terrorists from the agricultural kibbutz of Nir Oz. His father was killed in his home there during Hamas’ incursion and his mother was also taken hostage. She was among those later freed during the truce. Katzir appeared in a similar video from captivity last month.

Katzir was interviewed by Reuters in 2018 while working in the fields and spoke about the threat he and his neighbors felt from Hamas across the nearby border in Gaza.

“There is a chance that a sniper from the other side is watching me and I’m already in his sights,” Katzir said at the time. “Instead of caring for the welfare of people in Gaza they deal with terror and in how to harm us.”

The post Islamic Jihad releases video of Israeli captive appeared first on World Israel News.