Israel’s army said on Saturday that its troops have retrieved the body of a hostage kidnapped by Palestinian militants during the October 7 onslaught on southern Israeli towns.
Elad Katzir’s body has been recovered, bringing the total number of people taken home from Gaza by the army throughout the war to 12.
However, it provided no solace to his sister, who blamed Israeli authorities for his murder.
“The body of the abductee Elad Katzir, who according to intelligence was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation, was rescued overnight from Khan Yunis and returned to Israeli territory,” the Israeli military stated in a statement.
Katzir, 47 at the time of the attack, was abducted from the Nir Oz kibbutz settlement with his mother Hanna.
She was released on November 24 as part of a one-week truce in the Gaza conflict. The army said that Katzir’s father, Avraham, was killed during the attack on the kibbutz.
“Elad was kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz in one piece,” Carmit Palty Katzir, his sister, wrote on her Facebook page.
She blamed the Israeli authorities for her brother’s death, saying he would have returned alive had the authorities agreed to a new truce deal.
“Our leadership is cowardly and driven by political consideration, which is why this deal has not happened yet,” she wrote.
“Prime Minister, war cabinet, and coalition members: Look at yourself in the mirror and say if your hands didn’t spill blood.”
Her remarks reflect growing criticism on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government about how it is managing the war.
Negotiators were due in Cairo over the weekend for a further drive to secure a ceasefire-hostage arrangement as the Gaza war enters its sixth month on Sunday.
Stop-start discussions have made no progress since a week-long truce in November, the only one since the war began, which witnessed the exchange of some hostages for Palestinian inmates held by Israel.
The bloodiest Gaza war ever began on October 7 with an unprecedented offensive from Gaza by Hamas militants, killing 1,170 people in southern Israel, the majority of them were civilians, according to Israeli data.
Israel’s unrelenting bombardment of Hamas-controlled territory has resulted in the deaths of at least 33,137 individuals, predominantly women and children, according to the health ministry.