Bodies of husband and wife taken on October 7 recovered by Israel in 'special operation'
by Henry Moore · LBCBy Henry Moore
Israel says it has recovered the bodies of a husband and wife taken hostage during Hamas’ October 7 attack.
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The remains of Judi Weinstein and Gad Haggai were recovered during a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
"Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the dear families. Our hearts ache for the most terrible loss. May their memory be blessed," he said in a statement.
The husband and wife, aged 72 and 70, were confirmed dead by Kibbutz Nir Oz in December 2023, but their bodies have remained in Gaza.
It is believed the pair, who held joint Israeli and US citizenship, died on October 7.
The army said it recovered the remains of Ms Weinstein and Mr Haggai overnight into Thursday from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
The couple were taking an early morning walk near their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of October 7 when Hamas militants burst across the border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
At the time, Ms Weinstein was able to call emergency services to relay that they had both been shot.
The couple were survived by two sons and two daughters and seven grandchildren, the kibbutz said.
"My beautiful parents have been freed. We have certainty," their daughter, Iris Haggai Liniado, wrote in a Facebook post.
She thanked the Israeli military, the FBI and the Israeli and US governments and called for the release of all the remaining hostages.
56 hostages still remain in Gaza, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s assault on Gaza in the wake of October 7 has seen the IDF kill at least 53,000 people, the vast majority women and children, according to the United Nations.
A generation of children in Gaza face "malnutrition, catastrophic food insecurity and famine" unless more humanitarian aid enters the Strip without restrictions, the UN's aid chief said this week.
Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN's World Food Programme, has called on Israel to "get in and get in at scale" aid deliveries without limits.
"We can't wait for this.
"We need safe, unfettered, clear access all the way in and we're not getting that right now," she said.
She stressed that people in Gaza are "starving, they're hungry, they're doing what they can do to feed their families".
"It's very, very important that people realise that the only way to stave off malnutrition, catastrophic food insecurity and, of course, famine would be by complete and total access for organisations like mine," she added.
Right now, she said there are "over 500,000 people within Gaza that are catastrophically food insecure."
"I try and put myself in their situation: I'm a mother and grandmother, and I cannot imagine having my children ask me for food and me not being able to give it them.
"I don't know what that does to a human spirit but I don't want to see any more of that as a humanitarian aid worker," she told Sky News.