“In the reality they created for us, this is also a comfort”: Elad Katzir from Kibbutz Nir Oz was kidnapped to Gaza and murdered by Hamas. His body was returned to Israel in a military operation – this is what the IDF spokesman announced today (Saturday). On the seventh of October, Elad (47) was kidnapped from the kibbutz together with his mother Hana (77) who was later released in a hostage release deal. His father Rami was murdered that same Sabbath.
The families of the abductees in a statement in Kirya: “Netanyahu is the obstacle, we will work to replace him immediately” (Archive) // Moshe Ben Simhon
Elad was born in Kibbutz Nir Oz in Outaf. When he grew up he decided to continue living in the kibbutz, even when his sisters Carmit and Avital decided to leave. For a month, the sisters did not know what happened to their brother – whether he was missing, murdered or kidnapped. Only a month later they received the message about the presence of their brother in Gaza.
Elad worked as an irrigation coordinator in the fields of the “Uncle Moshe” kibbutz, where vegetables and wheat are grown for the farm and for export to Europe. He loved football and especially the Maccabi Haifa team. A week after he was kidnapped, he was supposed to fly to a friend’s bachelor party and arrive at one of Maccabi Haifa’s games.
Carmit with the picture of her brother Gilad Katzir, photo: Michel dot Kom
His sister Carmit told about him in an interview with Israel Hayom that he was a kibbutznik at heart. “Elad was a member of many teams, organized community events, always volunteered and guided. He was always engaged in agriculture. We would come every second Saturday and he would take the nephews for a walk in the fields, showing them what was growing and what was being harvested. He was single with many children, his biological nephews and an uncle of respect for many children from the kibbutz.”
This morning she announced the difficult news that her brother is no longer alive. “Elad was brought to Israel tonight, after he was murdered in captivity… in the horrible reality they created for us, this is also a consolation. Elad will have a grave.” Later she criticized the conduct of the government. “The Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the IDF have no idea where most of the abductees, alive and murdered, are being held. The Prime Minister, the War Cabinet and members of the coalition, look at yourselves in the mirror and say if your hands did not spill this blood.”
The march of the kidnapped families (archive), photo: REUTERS
After the announcement of the return of his body, his friend Shahar Vahav published a letter of apology for being abandoned. “We were all abandoned, we were abandoned. We thought there was someone we could trust and we were deceived. From October until now, and it doesn’t seem like there is any comfort on the horizon. Day by day it only gets worse, and you paid with your life. Unfortunately, the hand is still bent. We saw him in the videos from captivity, undergoing brainwashing on By the hands of Hamas. ‘The State of Israel doesn’t care about you’, ‘Netanyahu left you to die’. From there it seems that maybe they are right.”
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