Gadi Haggai, Listed as a Hostage, Is Now Mentioned to Have Been Killed

Gadi Haggai, a 73-year-old man taken hostage within the Hamas-led invasion of Israel, is now believed to have died within the Oct. 7 assault, the Hostages and Lacking Individuals Households Discussion board mentioned in a press release on Friday.

It mentioned his physique was nonetheless being held by Hamas within the Gaza Strip.

The discussion board mentioned Mr. Haggai and his spouse, Judih Weinstein Haggai, residents of each Israel and the USA, have been shot through the Hamas terror assault whereas they have been on their common morning stroll within the fields and vineyards of Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Ms. Haggai contacted mates to inform them that they had been shot and that her husband was critically injured, the discussion board mentioned. It mentioned that was the final time anybody in Israel heard from them. Ms. Haggai remains to be being held captive. Her situation is unknown.

“Gadi was a person filled with humor who knew learn how to make these round him chuckle,” Liat Bell Sommer, a spokeswoman for the discussion board, mentioned in a press release, including that Mr. Haggai was “a musician at coronary heart, a gifted flutist.”

The discussion board didn’t specify the way it knew that Mr. Haggai died through the assault.

“Jill and I are heartbroken by the information” of Mr. Haggai’s demise, President Biden mentioned in a press release.

“We proceed to hope for the well-being and protected return of his spouse, Judy,” he added. “Their daughter joined by telephone my assembly with the households of hostages final week. These households bravely shared with me the harrowing ordeal that they’ve endured over the previous months as they await information of their family members. It’s insupportable.”

As Israel has investigated the Oct. 7 assault, it has realized extra concerning the destiny of those that went lacking. Earlier this month, Israeli authorities mentioned Eitan Levy, a 53-year-old man initially thought to have been taken hostage, had really been killed within the Oct. 7 assault.

Hamas and different Palestinian teams killed roughly 1,200 folks and kidnapped some 240 others through the Oct. 7 assault, Israeli authorities say. It was the deadliest assault within the nation’s historical past.

Along with homicide and kidnapping, some attackers dedicated different atrocities, together with rape and mutilation of their victims, Israel has mentioned.