HY’D: Body of Lior Rudaeff Returned To Israel and Identified

Military representatives notified the family of Lior Rudaeff that his body was returned to Israel by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad last night, following the completion of identification efforts by forensic experts.

Rudaeff, 61, the deputy security coordinator at Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak and a member of its civil defense squad, was killed while battling Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in the community on the morning of October 7, 2023, and his body was abducted to Gaza.

Like other civil defense squad members who were killed while fighting Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, Rudaeff was posthumously promoted to the rank of warrant officer in reserves.

Rudaeff is survived by his wife, Yaffa, his four children, Noam, Nadav, Bar and Ben, several grandchildren, his father, Giora, and his siblings Idit and Doron.

The bodies of five slain hostages now remain held in the Strip — four Israelis and one foreign national: Meny Godard, Lt. Hadar Goldin, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, Dror Or, and Sudthisak Rinthalak.