Israel Recovers Body of Lior Rudaeff from Gaza

The Israeli army says it has identified a body recovered from Gaza as that of Israeli-Argentinian Lior Rudaeff.

sarah

Nov 8, 2025 - 14:52

Israel Recovers Body of Lior Rudaeff from Gaza

The army said that Lior, 61, was killed while defending the Nir Yitzhak kibbutz during the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group.

PIJ said the body was found on Friday in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Hamas has now returned all 20 living hostages and the bodies of 23 of the 28 dead hostages under the first phase of the ceasefire deal that began on October 10. Five dead hostages remain in Gaza, four of whom are Israeli and one is Thai.

Israel has criticized Hamas for not yet returning all the bodies. Hamas says they are difficult to locate under the rubble.

PIJ is an allied armed group of Hamas. It participated in the October 7 attack and previously held some Israeli hostages.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group, welcomed the return of the body.

"Lior's return brings some measure of solace to a family that has been living in agonizing uncertainty and doubt for over two years," they said in a statement. "We will not rest until the last hostage is home."

During the first phase of the US-mediated ceasefire deal, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners from its jails and 1,718 detainees from Gaza.

Israel also handed over the bodies of 285 Palestinians in exchange for the bodies of 19 Israeli hostages returned by Hamas, as well as the bodies of three foreign hostages – one Thai, one Nepalese, and one Tanzanian. Both sides also agreed to increase aid to the Gaza Strip, a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops, and a cessation of hostilities, although violence has flared up since both sides accused each other of violating the agreement.

Israel launched airstrikes on October 19 after accusing Hamas militants of killing two of its soldiers and again on October 28 after accusing them of killing another soldier. Hamas said it was unaware of clashes in the area of the first incident and had nothing to do with the second attack. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, at least 241 people have been killed in Israeli military actions since the ceasefire began. The United Nations considers these figures credible.

The Israeli military launched an operation in Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 attack, in which Hamas gunmen killed approximately 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage. All but one of the hostages still held in Gaza were abducted in that attack.

The health ministry reports that at least 68,875 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then.