Bodies of Three Hostages Recovered In Gaza Operation

The bodies of three slain hostages, Ofra Keidar, Jonathan Samerano, and Staff Sgt. Shay Levinson, were recovered in a joint military and Shin Bet operation from the Gaza Strip overnight, the IDF announces.

The operation to recover the bodies was carried out by the Gaza Division, and was “enabled by precise intelligence” obtained by the military’s Hostages Headquarters unit, the Military Intelligence Directorate, and the Shin Bet, the IDF says.

Keidar, 71, was murdered by Hamas-led terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, and abducted to Gaza.

Samerano, 22, fled from the Nova music festival to Be’eri with two friends, where they were murdered, and his body was abducted.

Levinson, 19, was a tank commander stationed on the Gaza border on the morning of the onslaught. He was killed while battling the invading Hamas terrorists near the Nova party, and his body was abducted to Gaza.

“Yesterday was Yonati’s Hebrew birthday. On his 23rd birthday, on the very day he was born, our Yonati was rescued in a heroic operation by the brave soldiers of the IDF and the Shin Bet,” Kobi Samerano says on Instagram.

The three bodies were brought to Israel for identification at the Abu Kabir forensic institute, after which their families were notified.

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