The body of Hamas hostage Itai Svirsky has been recovered by Israeli forces 14 months after he was taken by the terror group.
Svirsky, 38, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri, where he was visiting his parents, during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. Both his parents were murdered after the terrorists swept through the community, and their corpses were identified days after their son went missing.
Svirsky’s body was returned to Israel as part of an operation by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to recover the remains of captives killed in Gaza.
“The Kidnapped and Missing Persons team in the IDF Human Resources Division, responsible for supporting the families of the kidnapped, worked closely with the Institute for Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police to identify his remains,” the Israeli military said in a statement, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Svirsky was last seen alive in a series of videos the terrorists released in January, which showed him along with since-free hostage Noa Argamani — whose kidnapping on the back of a motorcycle became one of the enduring symbols of Oct. 7’s horrors — and Yossi Sharabi, who is believed to have been killed during an IDF airstrike.
Svirsky and the hostages were filmed pleading with the Israeli government to secure their release — before concluding by telling the Israeli people “Your government is lying” in a coerced statement.
It is unclear when those clips were taken, or whether Svirsky was still alive at the time.
The three had been held together during their captivity, Argamani confirmed after her release in June.
“Dear Itai, during our shared stay in captivity, we imagined thousands of situations together, how we would return to Israel together, how we would meet for coffee after everything was over and laugh about it all.
“We never thought for a moment that you would return to Israel like this, as a corpse,” Argamani wrote in a social media post after his body was returned.
“Thank you for every moment of our shared time together. You were my friend; you were my big brother in this dark place. You taught me so many things that I will take with me no matter where I go. Now, you will receive a proper burial in Israel. Rest in peace.”
Svirsky’s death was announced in a Hamas-released video on Jan. 15, where a still-captive Argmanani claimed he was killed in an airstrike shortly after Sharabi was killed.
But the IDF maintains that story was concocted by the terror group, and that Svirsky was actually shot dead in captivity, the Jerusalem Post reported.
At least 100 hostages remain in captivity nearly 14 months since the attack.
