Father of slain hostage whose body was returned from Gaza: ‘It’s hard to process, but now there is certainty’

The father of slain hostage Idan Shtivi, whose body was brought from Gaza on Friday, says that he had stayed hopeful that his son had not been killed and had somehow survived.

“It’s hard to process, but now there is certainty,” Eli Shtivi tells Army Radio.

“Until yesterday, I hoped something else would happen. I didn’t accept that he was murdered – I chose the sanest thing one can choose in such uncertainty, to choose and believe in the good.”

“The longing is strong and painful,” he says. “He had no fears at all. He was full of immense love. He was always the good kid, would call twice a day, and if I didn’t answer, he would call me again.”

On Friday, the IDF announced it had recovered the bodies of slain hostage Ilan Weiss and of a second hostage, whom it later named as Shtivi.

Shtivi was murdered at the Nova music festival during the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel.