JERUSALEM—Israeli soldiers recovered the body of a 53-year-old hostage in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday, and the army was determining if another set of remains belongs to the man’s son.
The discovery of Yosef AlZayadni’s body comes as Israel and the Hamas terrorist group are considering a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining hostages and halt the fighting in Gaza. Israel says about a third of the remaining 100 hostages have died, but believes as many as half could be dead.
Yosef and his son Hamzah AlZayadni were thought to still be alive before Wednesday’s announcement, and news about their fate could ramp up pressure on Israel to move forward with a deal.
The military said it found evidence in the tunnel that raised “serious concerns” for the life of Hamzah AlZayadni, 23, suggesting he may have died in captivity. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said the circumstances behind Yosef AlZayadni’s death were being investigated.
AlZayadni and three of his children were among 250 hostages taken captive after Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people.
AlZayadni had a total of 19 children and had worked for 17 years at the dairy farm of a kibbutz that was among the communities attacked, said the Hostages Families Forum, a group representing the relatives of captives. AlZayadni’s teenage children, Bilal and Aisha, were released along with about 100 hostages in a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
The bodies of around three dozen hostages have been recovered in Gaza and eight hostages have been rescued by the army.
The Hostages Families Forum said the ceasefire deal being negotiated “comes far too late for Yosef—who was taken alive and should have returned the same way.”
“Every day in captivity poses an immediate mortal danger to the hostages,” the group said in a statement. The deaths of previous high-profile hostages have sparked large protests in Israel calling for a deal.
Yosef AlZayadni’s name appeared on a list of 34 hostages shared by a Hamas representative with The Associated Press earlier this week, who the terrorist group said were slated for release. Israel said this was a list it had submitted to mediators last July, and that it has received nothing from Hamas.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is “very close” and he hopes “we can get it over the line” before handing over U.S. diplomacy to President-elect Donald Trump’s administration later this month.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed sorrow at the news of AlZayadni’s death, and said in a statement he had “hoped and worked to bring back the four members of the family from Hamas captivity.” Defense Minister Israel Katz initially said the bodies of both Yosef and Hamzah AlZayadni had been recovered, but the military said that some of the remains were not yet identified.