By Dov Lieber

TEL AVIV -- Israel's military on Thursday said it retrieved the bodies of an American-Israeli couple who were killed during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack and whose bodies were taken into Gaza.

Judy Weinstein Haggai and her husband Gad Haggai, both in their 70s, were killed by members of a group called Kitab al-Mujahidin, a Gaza-based Palestinian militant group that isn't affiliated with Hamas. The group then took the couple's bodies into Gaza and has held them there since, the Israeli military said.

The bodies were retrieved in a military operation overnight, it said, without providing more details.

Hamas took 251 hostages on Oct. 7., 2023. Israel believes around 20 of those who remain in captivity are still alive, and that more than 30 dead bodies are still being held in Gaza. Israel's military has recovered the bodies of about 43 hostages in Gaza. Another eight were handed over to Israel by Hamas during a cease-fire earlier this year.

The bodies of two American-Israeli citizens, who were serving as soldiers when they were killed, are still held in Gaza.

Israel has also launched dangerous military operations to rescue living hostages. One hostage was killed during a failed rescue effort in December 2023. Israeli commandos rescued four hostages in a daylight raid in central Gaza in June last year. More than 250 Gazans were killed that day, according to Palestinian health authorities -- who don't say how many were combatants -- when the effort was discovered and the Israeli military launched airstrikes to rescue the hostages and its soldiers. Former hostages who have since been released said that their captors told them they would be killed if Israeli soldiers attempted to rescue them.

Kitab al-Mujahidin also kidnapped an Israeli woman, Shiri Bibas, and her two young children on Oct. 7, according to the Israeli military. Her husband Yarden was kidnapped separately and later released as part of a temporary cease-fire with Hamas. Shiri Bibas and her sons were killed in captivity and their bodies were later returned to Israel as part of the cease-fire deal.

The Haggais both lived on Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the agricultural communities along the border with Gaza that was invaded by Palestinian militants that day. About one quarter of the community's 400 members was either killed or taken hostage.

The couple were taking their routine morning walk around the kibbutz when they were set upon by militants and killed, according to the kibbutz.

Judy Weinstein Haggai, who also held Canadian citizenship, was an English teacher who specialized in children with special needs. She was described as "a poet, an entrepreneur who loved to create and was dedicated to peace and brotherhood."

Gad Haggai was a chef in the Kibbutz. The community described him as a gifted musician who loved sports and was a vegan.

They are survived by four children and seven grandchildren.

"Our hearts won't be whole until all 12 hostages from Nir Oz, and all 56 hostages in total, are returned," the kibbutz said.

Write to Dov Lieber at dov.lieber@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 05, 2025 06:38 ET (10:38 GMT)

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