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The Israeli security forces operating in Gaza have restored the bodies of two Israeli hostages, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He called one of them Yair (Ya) Jacob, 59, who was killed in his home in Kibbut-niri Oz during an attack led by Hamas on Southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
His teenage sons, or Jagil, and his partner Mirai Tal, were abducted alive and released in November 2023 as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Netanyahu said that the name of another hostage was not released yet, but that their family was reported.
Now 53 hostages remain in Gaza, at least 20 of which are believed to be alive.
The news of the restoration of the body of the yair Jacob originally came from his sons.
“Dad, I love you,” Yagil wrote in an Instagram message on Wednesday night, Haaretz reports. “I don’t know how to answer yet. I’m sad to say. I’m waiting for your funeral, I love you and knew that this day would come.”
Jagil also thanked the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the SHIN BET internal security service and hoped that the rest of the hostages “would be brought (back) in an agreement that does not risk the soldiers.”
Later, Netanyahu made a statement saying: “Together with all Israeli citizens, my wife and I expressed their condolences to the families who lost the most beloved.”
“I thank the soldiers and commanders for the next successful implementation of the sacred mission to return our hostages.”
The hostage forum and the disappeared families, which presents many hostages, said in a statement that “bows his head in sadness over the murder of Yai and shares in the deep mountains of the Jacob family.”
“No words to express the depth of this pain,” he added. “The hostage has no time. Now we have to bring them home!”
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the October 7 attack, which killed about 1,200 people, and 251 took the hostage.
At least 5510 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Ministry of Health on the territory.
