Father of hostage Almog Meir Jan died hours before rescue: ‘He didn’t get to see his son return’

The father of rescued hostage Almog Meir Jan died hours before he could learn his son was coming home.

“My brother died of grief and didn’t get to see his son return. The night before Almog’s return, my brother’s heart stopped. He didn’t get to see his son return,” Dina Jan, Almog’s aunt, tells the Kan public broadcaster.

“We are very happy about Almog’s return, but the brain is unable to absorb that this is the end. We are broken,” she says, explaining that her brother lived alone in Kfar Saba.

“Yossi, my brother, Almog’s father, was glued to the television for the whole eight months, clinging to every piece of information,” she says.

“He loved Almog so much, cared for him so much, wanted to know what was happening to him and what he was going through. He could not bear it, every [potential hostage deal] that exploded in his face broke his heart,” she says.

“He lost 20 kilos, he couldn’t bear it in any way,” she says, “He closed himself off, didn’t want to see people. Everyone was worried about Yossi, but he wasn’t able to communicate with anyone.”

Dina says that she received a phone call from the army telling her that her nephew had been rescued, and the officer told her they had been unable to reach Yossi.

“I was so happy I didn’t know what to do,” she tells Kan, adding that she went to her brother’s home to tell him the good news.

“I drove like crazy, I knocked, ‘Yossi, Yossi, Yossi’ and nothing. I got no answer. The door of his house was open and I saw him sleeping in the living room. I screamed ‘Yossi’ to him and he didn’t answer me. I saw the color of his skin, I touched him, but he was dead,” she says.

Yossi Jan, who died at the age of 57, will be buried later today. His family have asked the public not to attend.