Israeli hostage Itzik Elgarat died as Hamas tortured him for information because they thought he was a pilot, his brother told lawmakers Monday.

Dani Elgarat revealed during a raucous Knesset House Committee meeting that, a day earlier, intelligence officials had provided the family with more details about his brother’s death.

Itzik Elgarat, 68, was in his Kibbutz Nir Oz home on the morning of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked. They shot him through his safe room door, injured him, and took him captive. He was among 251 people abducted from Israel when the Palestinian terror group led thousands of gunmen in a devastating invasion of southern Israel that killed 1,200 people.

Dani Elgarat said that Hamas thought Itzik was a pilot because he had a tattoo of an eagle on his arm.

“They took him for interrogation and he never came back,” he said.

Itzik was initially held with Edan Alexander, a US-Israeli IDF soldier who was recently released from captivity in what was seen as a goodwill gesture by Hamas to US President Donald Trump.

Elgarat reported that Alexander had asked the Hamas guards where Itzik was when he didn’t come back, and they told him, “He has gone.”

“Itzik died, was murdered, he suffered a heart attack during interrogation........

© The Times of Israel