Crowds line roads in respect; 3 slain hostages still held

Body of Meny Godard, 73, lover of ‘sports, the ocean, people,’ returned from Gaza

Godard, a former soccer pro, war veteran, economist and lifeguard, was murdered at Kibbutz Be’eri along with his wife Ayelet on Oct. 7, with Meny’s body abducted

The body of slain hostage Meny Godard was returned to Israel by Hamas on Thursday night, officials confirmed, after forensic experts completed their identification of the remains handed over by the terror group, and military representatives notified Godard’s family.

Godard, 73, was murdered by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, as was his wife Ayelet, 63, and his body was abducted to Gaza by the Hamas-allied terror group. The couple is survived by their four children, Mor, Gal, Bar, and Goni, seven grandchildren and several siblings.

Godard’s body was transferred by the Red Cross from the terror group to Israel Defense Forces troops inside the Strip, where a small ceremony, led by a military rabbi, was held, the IDF said. The casket was then escorted by the police to the Abu Kabir forensic institute in Tel Aviv for identification.

Crowds of people carrying Israeli and yellow flags lined roads to pay their respects as the convoy carrying the body passed by.

In March, troops recovered findings belonging to Godard at an Islamic Jihad post in southern Gaza’s Rafah. The findings found at the post were taken to Israel and identified as belonging to Godard, but his body remained held in Gaza.

Hamas, in a joint statement with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said that the body had been located in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza earlier on Thursday. Footage aired by Al Jazeera earlier in the day showed heavy equipment digging through rubble in Khan Younis, before masked gunmen dug up white plastic sheeting apparently containing the body.

The bodies of three slain hostages now remain held in the Strip — two Israelis and one Thai national: Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Dror Or and Sudthisak Rinthalak.

“The Israeli government shares in the deep sorrow of the Godard family and of all the families of the fallen hostages,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

The PMO said that Israel was “determined, committed, and working tirelessly” to bring back the remaining three slain hostages for burial, adding that Hamas is “required to fulfill its commitments to the mediators and return them as part of the implementation of the agreement.”

Ex-soccer pro, Yom Kippur War fighter, chief kibbutz economist, lifeguard

On October 7, Ayelet Godard called one of the couple’s children, screaming that Meny had been killed and she was hiding in the bushes from the terrorists. The couple had been hiding from Hamas-led terrorists in the safe room of their home, fled when the home was set on fire, and Meny was killed by the terrorists waiting outside. Ayelet was never heard from again, and her body was found some time later.

A funeral for the couple was held on October 29, 2023, in Palmahim. However, Kibbutz Be’eri announced on February 8, 2024, that Meny’s body was being held in Gaza.

A eulogy posted on the kibbutz website remembered Ayelet as a longtime educator, “a special teacher, one of days gone by, the kind who brought nature into the classroom and took the children outside,” and shaped many of the youth who grew up in the kibbutz and nearby. She was an “incredible mother and a revered grandmother,” who also “believed with all her heart in the kibbutz and its members, and was an active part of the kibbutz life.”

Meny, the kibbutz eulogized, had “a love of sports, the ocean and people.” He was a professional soccer player in the 1970s before enlisting in the army and fighting in the Yom Kippur War. In the kibbutz, he worked in a variety of positions, including in the printing house, the local kibbutz store, the chief economist, and as a lifeguard.

Their son Goni wrote on Facebook after their deaths that they were “people with a special heart of gold… Everyone wanted to say thank you — thank you for all the years that you hugged us and loved us. Thank you for the endless support and help. Thank you for all the experiences we had with you.”

“These are the people you were — people who spread light in every direction, people of people, thank you for everything,” he wrote. “You will always, always, no matter what, be an inseparable part of us.”

One of their daughters, Mor Godard, wrote on Facebook that she struggled to find the words for their eulogy, and lamented that she could no longer call them to ask for help.

“Now, there is nobody to ask, there is no flashlight illuminating the way, there is no way,” she wrote. “There is great darkness, there is fear and there is longing.”

Mor described her father as “the anchor in our lives, our guy, who was always there to rely on. The one who would pick us up from youth parties in the middle of the night, send us money to India because we spent too much, who was always the first in every kindergarten classroom and every class when the grandchildren had their birthdays.”

Her mother, she wrote, “was always my first telephone call in the morning and my last at the end of the day — 20 times a day I want to call you and I can’t. You were everything to me, the one I always sought advice from on everything from big to small… You always listened, strengthened, defended and also offered solutions.”

Mor wrote, “I am sure that if there is a place up above, you are sitting together, laughing, talking, bringing up memories, and proud that we all survived. That you sacrificed your lives so that we would make it out of that horror alive. Mom and Dad, I want you to know that we are strong, we are together, we are taking care of each other, supporting, embracing, there for each other without limitation, just like you taught us, just like you raised us.”

At the start of the truce, Hamas still held 48 hostages in Gaza — 20 alive and 28 deceased. Under the terms of the ceasefire, it was obligated to return all of them within 72 hours.

The terrorists have since released all surviving captives, but Israel has accused Hamas of dragging its feet over the return of the remaining deceased hostages.

As part of the deal, Israel has returned the remains of 15 Palestinians for each deceased Israeli hostage it receives.

The previous deceased hostage handover was on Sunday, when the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin, killed and abducted by Hamas during the 2014 Gaza war, was returned to Israel after more than 11 years in captivity.