The Israeli military said Wednesday it had recovered the body of a hostage from a tunnel in southern Gaza.
Yousef Al-Ziyadnah, 53, who was kidnapped during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was found dead in a tunnel in the Rafah area, a statement from the Israel Defense Forces said.
The IDF said he had been “killed in captivity” and confirmed that the dead bodies of at least two Hamas operatives were found nearby.
Al-Ziyadnah’s body was discovered alongside evidence currently under investigation by the IDF that it says raised “grave concerns” for the life of his son, Hamza Al-Ziyadnah, 23, who was also being held hostage. It did not elaborate on what that evidence was.
“We are currently investigating the circumstances” of the death, the IDF’s international spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said.
The Al-Ziyadnah family are part of the Bedouin Muslim-Arab community that lives in southern Israel’s Negev desert.
Al-Ziyadnah and three of his children – Hamza, Bilal, and Aysha – were taken from Kibbutz Holit in southwest Israel, where they used to work. Bilal and Aysha were among the dozens of hostages returned in the short-lived ceasefire deal in November 2023.
Hamza’s fate remains unknown.
Israeli authorities believe there are now 99 hostages being held in Gaza, most of whom were taken during Hamas’ October 7, 2023, cross-border attacks, in which more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.
Of the hostages remaining in captivity in Gaza, dozens are believed to be dead.
Al-Ziyadnah had worked at the dairy farm of Kibbutz Holit for 17 years before he was taken hostage. He “was a man of dialogue and human connection, a pillar of strength for his family, and an influential figure in his community,” the Hostages Families Forum said in a statement on Wednesday.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the Al-Ziyadnah family had “received the devastating news,” and were “in deep anxiety over Hamza’s fate.”
“Time is running out. Yousef was abducted alive! Our hostages are in immediate life-threatening danger. We must continue to do everything possible to urgently return 99 of our brothers and sisters – the living to their families and the fallen and murdered to be laid to rest in dignity,” Herzog said in a statement on Wednesday.
The country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his “deep sorrow,” vowing to “continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages, the living and the deceased.”
Israel and Hamas remain in indirect talks in Qatar for a possible hostages-for-ceasefire deal. The talks have been deadlocked for months. US President-elect Donald Trump warned Tuesday that if the hostages were not released by his inauguration on January 20, “all hell will break out in the Middle East.”