JERUSALEM: A US-Israeli man believed to have been taken captive by Hamas militants on October 7 was killed on the day of the attack, his kibbutz community said Friday.
Palestinian militants took the body of Gad Haggai, 73, from his community of Nir Oz in southern Israel to the Gaza Strip, the kibbutz said in a statement. His wife is believed to have been abducted alive.
The Israeli army, contacted by AFP, confirmed Haggai had died on October 7.
He is the latest confirmed fatality among about 250 Israelis and foreigners taken by Gaza militants during the deadly attack which triggered all-out war between Israel and Hamas.
“Gad was murdered on October 7 at the kibbutz. His body was taken by the terrorists to the Gaza Strip and is still held there,” the Nir Oz statement said.
It did not specify how Haggai’s death had been confirmed.
The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum on Friday also announced his death without elaborating.
The slain man’s wife, 70-year-old Judith Weinstein Haggai, is thought to be the oldest woman among the hostages still held in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement he was “heartbroken by the news that American Gad Haggai is now believed to have been killed by Hamas on October 7.
“We continue to pray for the well-being and safe return of his wife, Judy.”
The Israeli families’ forum said Gad Haggai, “a musician at heart,” was a flautist who played in the military’s orchestra.
The Nir Oz kibbutz said he was father of four and grandfather of seven.
Just before the abduction, his wife told a paramedic in a final phone call that they had both been wounded, their son Ahl Haggai told AFP earlier this month.
“The only evidence we have... is a video of my dad on the back of a truck, lying down injured,” Ahl said at the time.
On October 7, Hamas militants streamed across the Gaza border and attacked southern Israeli communities, killing about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israeli authorities say 129 of the hostages seized during the brazen attack remain in Gaza.
Israel responded with a blistering assault on Gaza that has killed at least 20,057 people, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
A truce last month saw the release of 105 hostages, including 80 Israelis freed in exchange for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.