Final unaccounted for October 7 victim died in onslaught, IDF confirms
Family long accepted that Bilha Inon was killed alongside her husband, Yakov, in Netiv Ha’asara; now military says ‘complex examination and investigation’ has verified her death
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Tuesday that Bilha Inon, 75, who had officially been considered missing since the October 7 Hamas onslaught, was in fact killed that day alongside her husband, Yakov Inon, 78.
The Inon children decided for themselves shortly after the attack that there was no possibility Bilha had survived, and chose to sit shiva — the traditional Jewish mourning period — for them both.
Until Tuesday, Bilha was considered by the government to be the only Israeli still missing following the attack. Separately, 111 people, including at least 39 bodies, are believed to still be held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
Bilha and Yakov’s house was completely burned down during the Hamas infiltration of the community of Netiv Ha’asara on that Saturday morning. Bilha was initially listed as dead along with her husband, but a lack of DNA evidence led the IDF to retract that conclusion.
She was never believed to have been abducted by Hamas to Gaza, since there were no other kidnappings from Netiv Ha’asara on October 7. The small community of less than 1,000 people just a few hundred meters from the border with Gaza was among the first to be infiltrated that Saturday morning, by several terrorists who flew in via paragliders.
The IDF said Tuesday that “after a complex examination and investigation procedure,” following recently located findings at the Inons’ home, it was able to confirm that she was killed on October 7. Her death was declared by a panel of health experts, IDF officials, police officials and the chief rabbi.
Bilha and Yakov were survived by their five children, Mor, Maayan, Maoz, Magal and Magen, and 11 grandchildren.
The Inon family sat shiva for both of them the week after the attack, without holding a funeral. More than a week later, Yakov’s remains were identified, but officials told the family that no trace of Bilha could be found, and that therefore they could not officially confirm her death.
In media interviews, the family has said that while they accepted that Bilha and Yakov were gone, the lack of official confirmation meant that it was impossible to deal with settling their parent’s estate, closing their accounts and implementing their will.
In an interview with Channel 12 news in February, Maayan Inon said that “Dad sent us a WhatsApp message at 7:30 a.m. that they’re sitting in the safe room, the house is locked, and they’re hearing a lot of shooting and rockets.”
“By 7:45 a.m. they were already disconnected and not answering,” she said. “The house got a direct hit [likely from an RPG] and was on fire within minutes. This was a house built with light materials like plaster and plywood.”
Mor Inon said at the time that “there’s a disagreement between the fire services — who say that the fire was at a very high temperature and that it’s certainly possible that DNA can’t be recovered — and the [forensic scientists] who say that that can’t be, that something can always be recovered.”
Writing in the Guardian in October, the couple’s son Magen Inon said that “the pain is unbearable. My parents were a stable rock in my and my family’s life, and the only consolation I have is that they died together. Inseparable in life and death.”
Magen said that his parents “lived fulfilling and happy lives and touched many people.” Yakov, he said, was a professional agronomist while Bilha was an early childhood education teacher as well as an artist.
Bilha and Yakov requested in their will that their bodies be cremated and spread out over the grounds of Netiv Ha’asara because they did not want their bodies to take up land.
The couple’s children have emphasized in interviews about the October 7 atrocities that their parents were lifelong peace activists who believed in reaching out and building bridges.
Maoz Inon told The New York Times that even in unthinkable times, he is continuing to pursue peace as part of “my mom’s legacy. And I’m taking it for my mom. I’m taking it for my father. We will always have the reasons to hate. But I’m saying, one day, we’ll have to start using the power of reconciliation, the power of forgiveness.”
Speaking to Haaretz, Maayan said that despite her parents’ location just meters from the Gaza border, “they felt safe.”
“My dad always said: We can’t live in fear,” she said. “He claimed that fear is a subjective thing and he didn’t really feel it. My mom had some bouts of fear and anxiety. But they still chose to stay because they loved the area and the people, they were pillars of their community, and they lived well.”
