Forces from the military and Shin Bet security service recovered the body of slain hostage Ilan Weiss in an operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said Friday.

His body was recovered along with the remains of a second hostage, whose name was not immediately published as the identification process was still ongoing at the Abu Kabir National Institute of Forensic Medicine.

Weiss, 56, was killed on the morning of October 7, 2023, while defending Kibbutz Be’eri from Hamas-led terrorists as a member of the emergency response team.

His wife Shiri and daughter Noga were also taken hostage and later freed during a weeklong truce and hostage release deal in November 2023. Noga was drafted into the IDF in May 2024.

The IDF said the complex recovery mission in Gaza was carried out by Southern Command forces with intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate, the Shin Bet, and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

“This is an ongoing, principled effort that we will continue to pursue,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Friday regarding the military’s efforts to return the captives. “We will not rest or remain silent until all our hostages are returned by any means possible.”

The forum mourned Weiss as “a loving and devoted family man, [who] excelled at cooking and loved to barbecue.” The group added in its statement: “The hostages are running out of time. We must return all of them home, now!”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent his condolences to the families of Weiss and the other recovered hostage, while praising security forces for their “determination and courage.”

He reiterated that Israel “will not........

© The Times of Israel