The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that the bodies of two Israeli hostages have been recovered in Gaza.
It named them as Eden Zecharya and Ziv Dado.
“During an operation in Gaza, the bodies of the hostages Eden Zecharya and [Sergeant Major] Ziv Dado were recovered by IDF Special Forces and brought back to Israel,” the IDF said in a statement Tuesday.
The Israeli military continued: “After an identification procedure carried out by medical officials and military rabbis together with the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police, today (Tuesday) IDF and Israel Police representatives informed the families of Eden Zecharya and (SGM) Ziv Dado, who were taken hostage by the Hamas terrorist organization on October 7th, that their bodies had been recovered and returned to Israel.”
Zecharya was taken hostage from the Re'im music festival and Dado was taken hostage and fell while serving in the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion, and until today was recognized as a fallen soldier in captivity, the IDF said.
It added that during the operations that enabled the location of the bodies, two IDF soldiers on reserve duty were killed and others injured.
The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum headquarters said Zecharya was 28 and filled with joy for life.
She had traveled to Re'im with her boyfriend, 23-year-old Ofek Kimchi. She spoke to her father on the phone and said they were under fire.
Kimchi was killed in the attack. Zecharya was kidnapped with injuries to the upper half of her body.
In her last phone call, according to the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum, she managed to ask her father to look after her two hunting dogs.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office has revised the number of hostages in Gaza to 135, in light of the announcement that the bodies of two hostages have been recovered from Gaza.