Israel recovers body of hostage captured to Gaza on 7 October

Israeli soldiers have recovered the body of 53-year-old Yosef AlZayadni in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza and were determining if another set of remains found belonged to his son, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

AlZayadni and his son, Hamzah AlZayadni, were captured on the 7 October by Hamas militants in a kibbutz in southern Israel in an attack that killed 1,200 people. He was a dairy farmer with a total of 19 children, said the Hostages Families Forum, a group representing the relatives of those captured.

Two of his other children, Bilal and Aisha, were released in a weeklong ceasefire deal in November 2023 along with around 100 other hostages.

Of the roughly 100 hostages who remain in Gaza, one third are said to be dead, some killed during Hamas’ initial attack and others have been killed or have died in captivity. Israel has rescued eight hostages and has recovered the bodies of dozens.

The hostages range in age from 1 to 86, and are believed to be scattered throughout the Gaza Strip. They have been held in apartments or in Hamas’ web of underground tunnels, which are cramped, damp and stifling, according to testimony from freed hostages.

The military said it found evidence in the tunnel that raised “serious concerns” for the life of Hamzah AlZayadni, 23, suggesting he may have died in captivity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed sorrow at the news of AlZayadni’s death, and said in a statement he had “hoped and worked to bring back the four members of the family from Hamas captivity.”

The AlZayadni family are members of the Bedouin community, a Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship. Eight members of Israel’s Bedouin minority were abducted in the October 2023 attacks.

“We expected to bring them back alive,” said Talal Alkernawi, mayor of the city of Rahat where the men were from. “Instead of returning them alive to their families, to raise their children, we receive them dead.”

The return of the remaining hostages is a key element of a potential ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. The families of the hostages have put immense pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate a pause in hostilities so that their loved ones could return home.

Ceasefire negotiations are reportedly currently underway, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying Wednesday that a ceasefire and a hostage agreement is “very close”. The politician said he hopes the agreement would be reached before US President-Elect Donald Trump takes over later this month.

The Hostages Families Forum said the ceasefire deal being negotiated “comes far too late for Yosef — who was taken alive and should have returned the same way.”

Yosef AlZayadni’s name appeared on a list of 34 hostages who would have been slated for release should a hostage agreement deal have held, a Hamas official shared earlier this week. Israel has argued that this list had been submitted to mediators last July.