[APNEWS] Israeli soldiers recovered the body of a 53-year-old hostage in an underground tunnel in southern Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
, the military said Wednesday, and the army was determining if another set of remains belongs to the man's son.
The discovery of Yosef AlZayadni's body comes as Israel and Hamas
 ..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
are considering a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining hostages and halt the fighting in Gaza. Israel says about a third of the remaining 100 hostages have died, but believes as many as half could be dead.
Yosef and his son Hamzah AlZayadni were thought to still be alive before Wednesday's announcement, and news about their fate could ramp up pressure on Israel to move forward with a deal.
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. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said the circumstances behind Yosef AlZayadni's death were being investigated.
AlZayadni and three of his children were among 250 hostages taken captive after Hamas-led bully boyz stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people.
| How the Times of Israel reported it: |
IDF says body of hostage Youssef Ziyadne found in Gaza, ‘grave concerns’ for son’s life
Remains of Ziyadne, 53, brought back to Israel, along with findings linked to his son Hamza, 22; troops located the body in tunnel in Rafah, in area where IDF previously operated
The body of hostage Youssef Ziyadne, 53, who was abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, was recovered by the Israeli military from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday.
Members of Ziyadne’s family said that the military had informed them that the body of his son, Hamza Ziyadne, 22, was also recovered from Gaza, though the IDF said that this was not yet confirmed.
Youssef was abducted by Hamas terrorists during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, along with three of his children, Hamza, Bilal, 18, and Aisha, 17, while working in Kibbutz Holit near the Gaza border.
Bilal and Aisha were released on November 30, 2023, after more than 50 days in Hamas captivity.
Until Tuesday, Youssef and Hamza were presumed alive.
The IDF in a statement said that Ziyadne’s body was found in a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah, and was brought back to Israel for identification. Following the identification process, his family was notified.
In the same tunnel, the IDF said it located findings that linked to Ziyadne’s son Hamza who was abducted with him on October 7, as well as other intelligence materials.
The military said the findings raised “grave concerns for his life.”
The remains of at least two Hamas operatives were located alongside Ziyadne’s body in the tunnel, and they are believed by the IDF to have been guarding him.
The tunnel in Rafah was located in an area where the military had operated before, according to IDF sources. The IDF returned to the area following new intelligence, to recover the body. It was not in the same area where the bodies of six hostages were found in late August.
The cause of Ziyadne’s death was still under investigation by the IDF, though according to initial assessments, did not occur recently.
Despite the IDF statement, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on X that the bodies of both Youssef and Hamza were recovered “in a heroic operation,” and expressed his condolences to the Ziyadne family.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, offered condolences to the Ziyadne family.
“We hoped and worked for the safe return of the four members of the family from Hamas captivity,” Netanyahu said. “We returned the children Bilal and Aisha on November 23, and we wanted to return Youssef and Hamza in the same way.”
Youssef, married with two wives and 19 children, was working in the kibbutz cowshed. Hamza, married and father of two, and Bilal, were working with their father, while their sister Aisha had joined them for the morning. The family lives in Rahat, in the Ziyadne neighborhood, named for their extensive family clan.
Following their release, Bilal said the terrorists kidnapped him and his family members even though they knew they were Arabs. Bilal said the four of them were kept together.
It is now believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
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