IDF and Shin Bet Recover Body of Soldier Held by Hamas

On Wednesday, the IDF reported the recovery of an Israeli soldier’s body, held by Hamas since their attack on October 7, during a late-night operation on Tuesday. The specific location of this mission remains undisclosed due to a gag order. The soldier’s remains were discovered buried following an interrogation by the Shin Bet of a detainee. At the request of the soldier’s family, the IDF has withheld the soldier’s name from publication.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the operation, stating, “Tonight, our forces returned the body of an IDF soldier whose name was not allowed for publication. The combat soldier fell in heroic combat on October 7 as he was defending the Gaza border communities.” 

In a separate mission earlier on Tuesday, the IDF and Shin Bet rescued Qaid Farhan Alkadi, an Israeli-Bedouin hostage, from a tunnel in Rafah. Hamas had kidnapped Alkadi on October 7 from Mivtachim in southern Israel. 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant commended the IDF and Shin Bet for their courage in recovering the fallen soldier’s body, emphasizing the operation’s importance in bringing him home for burial.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum expressed that the retrieval of the soldier’s remains provides essential closure for his family, while also stressing the urgency of negotiating the release of the remaining hostages, given the critical nature of their situation.

The IDF also announced the deaths of two soldiers during ongoing combat in the Gaza Strip. Staff Sgt. Amit Friedman, 19, from Or Yehuda, who served in the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion, was killed Tuesday in southern Gaza. Early Wednesday, Master Sgt. (res.) Yohay Hay Glam, 32, from Netanya, of the Jerusalem Brigade’s 6310th Battalion, was killed in central Gaza. These losses bring Israel’s death toll in the ground offensive and border operations against Hamas in Gaza to 342.