The bodies of Bedouin father and son Yousef al-Zaydana and Hamza al-Zaydana, kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October have been found in the Gaza Strip.
Yosef, a father of 18 children, and Hamza were kidnapped from Kibbutz Hulit with Aisha and Bilal, also Yosef’s children.
The brothers were released after 55 days in captivity. The family had held out hope that the father and older brother would also return alive.
The family said that the two were held together, and found together.
Ali al-Zaydana, Yousef’s brother and Hamza’s uncle said: “We were informed that the bodies of Yousef and his son Hamza had been found. Our hearts ache. We wanted them to return to the bosom of the family alive – but unfortunately they returned dead.”
Ali added: “Aisha and her brother Bilal were waiting to hug them. This is a difficult and shocking disaster.”
Ali said: “Every day, the boys and I checked to see if there was anything new. We thought they would be released in the new deal because we saw reports that they were among those released; we had hope that they were still alive.
“The day after, when we received the message that they had been found, we couldn’t digest it and said, ‘Check, maybe you’re wrong, maybe they’re alive, don’t rush.’ In the end, all we had to do was accept the hard news that tore our hearts.”
After Aisha and Bilal’s release, their relatives said: “From what we heard, Hamas didn’t care who they kidnapped, Jew or Arab, as far as they were concerned, any kidnapped person could help them with their demands.
“The four of them were alone in a room. They didn’t know if they were at home or in a tunnel, they received meals as usual and heard explosions all the time.”
A list of hostages in Gaza who could be released in a ceasefire deal circulated in international and Israeli media this week amid reports that ceasefire talks were once more gaining momentum.
But the Israeli government is warning that the list does not reflect any agreement, or information about the status of the people on it.
- This article is adapted from the full news story found at YNet.
