‘Could have been saved’: Loved ones of slain hostages decry their deaths in captivity
Alex Dancyg’s son says PM is ‘continuing to thwart and sabotage chance for a deal’; Yagev Buchshtav’s wife, Rimon, who was freed from captivity, says he promised to follow ‘in a few days’
The loved ones of two hostages who were declared dead by the IDF on Monday grieved the news of their loss, lamenting that they could have been saved during their time in captivity.
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday informed the families of Alex Dancyg, 75, and Yagev Buchshtav, 35, who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, that they both had died several months ago in Gaza, although the circumstances of their deaths were not immediately clear.
Their bodies are still being held in Gaza, the military said. The news means that of the 116 hostages kidnapped on October 7 who remain in the Strip, 44 have now been confirmed dead by the IDF.
Yuval Dancyg, the son of Alex — a renowned Holocaust educator who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz — wrote on Instagram on Monday that “this isn’t how it was supposed to end.”
“You were abducted alive and breathing from your bed on that cursed morning, and you should have returned home alive and in one piece. I’m sorry we didn’t succeed in this task,” wrote Yuval.
“In the last few months, I was exposed more and more to the number of people you inspired and to what an amazing legacy you left behind,” Yuval added. “I promise to carry this legacy with me to every place and to tell your story.”
“Now is the time for grieving and memorializing. The time to settle the score with those responsible for what happened will come,” he added obliquely.
Another son of Alex, Mati Dancyg, was more explicit in his remarks, saying that “Dad didn’t just die — he died for the sake of [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government of destruction,” and called on the public to protest the government.
The prime minister “is continuing to thwart and sabotage any chance for a deal” and is “choosing to save his rotten government, rather than save the lives of Israeli citizens whose abduction he himself is responsible for,” Mati charged.
“The sacrificing of the hostages out of political motives is a much, much greater failure than the failure of October 7. This isn’t just criminal negligence, it is full-on treason,” Mati added, saying that he does not want any IDF soldier to be endangered by being sent on a mission to retrieve his father’s body.
Buchshtav was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nirim along with his wife, Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav, who was released on November 28 as part of a hostage deal with Hamas. The couple was together throughout Rimon’s captivity and she did not want to leave Yagev behind, but was told to go willingly or be dragged on the floor.
Reacting to news of his death, Rimon said that “our final moments together where full of hugs and kisses and ‘I love yous.’ Yagev made sure to tell me that if I’m OK, then he is OK. That he would be home in a few days.”
Rimon said that the couple had “already planned how I would be sitting on the sofa in Nirim, with the dogs, the cats, cooking, waiting for him. It was supposed to take a few days” until he was released as well. “This isn’t how it was meant to end. My heart is broken. Yagev was a good soul, sensitive, beautiful and magical. And I am his.”
Sahar Kalderon, 16, who was kidnapped along with her father and younger brother from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, and later released, said Monday that she spent some of her time in captivity with Buchshtav.
“I was with him for a few days in the same place until they moved me,” she said. “It hurts my heart because I know that he was alive and that [Israel] could have saved him.”
Buchshtav’s childhood friend Yariv Yaakobi told 103 FM radio that he was “a modest and quiet man, a man with a lot of compassion and a highly developed sense of justice.” Yaakobi said his friend was “an autodidact who taught himself all sorts of things. He knew how to play so many different instruments, especially those that nobody else had heard of; he taught himself how to build instruments; how to cook… He would always cook dishes we didn’t even know.”
“He deserved such a better ending than what we see today. It’s so sad… we have a moral responsibility to Yagev — and it still exists,” added Yaakobi. “We can’t abandon them again. We can’t talk about rebuilding, about returning to normalcy, if they’re still there. Yagev could have been saved.”
The confirmation of Buchshtav and Dancyg’s deaths comes as Netanyahu arrives in Washington ahead of a meeting with US President Joe Biden and an address to joint session of Congress.
The prime minister traveled to DC with several released hostages and families of hostages, while many other families urged him not to fly to Washington until he had reached a deal to free their loved ones.
Many family members of the hostages were furious at comments reportedly made by Netanyahu last week that “the hostages are suffering but they are not dying.”
The military did not detail the circumstances of the deaths of Dancyg and Buchshtav, citing an ongoing probe. The possibility that they were killed by Israeli fire was being investigated. Their deaths were declared by a panel of health experts and members of the rabbinate, following new information obtained by the IDF.
Hamas in March claimed that Buchshtav had died due to lack of food and medication, and Dancyg had been killed by Israeli fire. The claims have not been confirmed by the IDF.
The IDF has now confirmed the deaths of 44 of the remaining 116 hostages held by Hamas since October 7. The terror group kidnapped 251 people during the onslaught. Hamas is also still holding the bodies of two soldiers since 2014 and two Israeli civilians who entered Gaza in 2014 and 2015.
The Times of Israel Community.