Brother says freed Israeli hostage suffered ‘hardest blow' learning wife killed
JERUSALEM: Freed Israeli hostage Or Levy suffered the 'hardest blow' upon his release from Gaza when he learned that his wife was killed by Hamas militants in the 2023 attack in which he was abducted, his brother said Sunday.
On Saturday, Hamas militants released Levy along with two other hostages, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami, as part of an ongoing ceasefire in Gaza.
'The hardest blow awaited Or when he was freed — his greatest fear was confirmed,' Michael Levy told journalists at a hospital where his brother is being treated.
'Einav, his beloved wife, was murdered on that cursed day. For 491 days, he held on to the hope that he would return to her. For 491 days, he didn't know she was no longer alive,' Michael Levy added.
Or and Einav Levy had attended the Nova music festival when Hamas militants stormed it during their October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
They had left their son Almog, two years old at the time, with his grandparents.
The usually inseparable couple, who met at school, tried to hide from the attackers along Route 232, the only path away from the festival.
According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an Israeli campaign group, Einav was killed in the attack while Or was abducted along with other young men.
Until now, it had been unclear whether Or knew of his wife's fate.
'He only found out yesterday,' said Michael Levy.
'Or is alive. He is here. But this happiness is mixed with an immense sadness, a pain that cannot be described.'
'After everything he went through, he finally met Mogi, his little son. A three-year-old boy who hadn't seen his father for 16 months!' the brother added.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israeli Military Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza, Defense Minister Says
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday. Nattapong Pinta's body was held by a Palestinian armed group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified. Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza. Israel's military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week. There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, which has previously denied killing its captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive. The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase. Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling. US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday. On Wednesday, the GHF suspended operations and asked the Israeli military to review security protocols after Palestinian hospital officials said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near distribution points between June 1-3. The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far. Israel is facing growing international pressure over its offensive against Hamas, which has plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis and displaced most of its population. Hamas-led gunmen took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7 attack, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza, and left much of the densely populated coastal enclave in ruins. Families of remaining hostages fear that those alive are in danger from the continued Israeli offensive and those dead will be lost forever. Israel says the campaign is aimed at bringing them all back. More than 40 hostages have been killed in captivity, some in the course of Israeli strikes and others killed by their captors.
Saudi Gazette
3 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Thai hostage recovered from southern Gaza in military operation
JERUSALEM — The body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, who was abducted alive during the October 7 attacks was recovered from southern Gaza in a military operation on Friday, according to a statement from the Israeli military and the Shin Bet security service. The announcement comes just days after Israel recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages from Gaza. Pinta, 35, was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel where he had been working in agriculture, according to an Israeli military official, who said it is estimated that he was killed during the first months of captivity. Pinta was a husband and father working in Israel to support his family in Thailand, the official said. 'We will not rest until all the hostages, living and deceased, are returned home,' Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. Pinta was abducted by the Mujahideen, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said, a militant group that took part in the Hamas-led attack on Israel. The IDF said it is the same organization that kidnapped the Bibas family and killed Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, the mother and two young sons who became the most prominent among Hamas' captives. Earlier this week, Israel announced that the bodies of Judy Winston-Haggai, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 72, were recovered from southern Gaza. The two were also taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The couple had four children and seven retrieval of Pinta's body comes with an intense Israeli operation underway in Gaza, with the Civil Defense reporting at least 38 people were killed in Israeli attacks on IDF said four soldiers were killed and five wounded early Friday morning when an explosive was detonated in a building in Khan Younis in which they were operating, causing part of the structure to collapse.A total of 55 hostages remain in Gaza, including one taken in 2014. Twenty are believed to be still the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7, many were migrant workers from poor rural parts of Asia, who had gone to work in Israel's agricultural, construction and health care sectors to send money back home. — CNN
Asharq Al-Awsat
4 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Says Retrieved Body of Thai Hostage Kidnapped into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023
Israel says it has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage kidnapped into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. The Prime Minister's office said Saturday that the body of Thai citizen Nattapong Pinta was returned to Israel in a special military operation. Pinta was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity near the start of the war, said the government. Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive by Hamas gunmen. This comes two days after the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages were retrieved. Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza, of whom Israel says more than half are dead. The defense minister said Saturday that Pinta's body was retrieved from the Rafah area. He had come to Israel from Thailand to work in agriculture. On Thursday, Israel retrieved the bodies of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai, both of whom had Israeli and US citizenship. This comes as Israel continues its operation in Gaza. At least 22 people were killed by Israeli strikes overnight Friday into Saturday.
