IDF retrieves bodies of two hostages from Gaza: Eden Zacharia and Ziv Dado

The IDF announces that it has recovered the bodies of Eden Zacharia and IDF Warrant Officer Ziv Dado, who were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7.

The operation to recover the bodies from the Gaza Strip was carried out by the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, and the 551st Brigade.

Israeli troops bring the bodies of Eden Zacharia and First Sgt. Ziv Dado back to Israel from the Gaza Strip, in an image published December 12, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

Zacharia, 27, was taken hostage from the Supernova rave near Re’im, and Dado, 36, a logistics supervisor in the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion, was killed during the October 7 onslaught. Dado had until recently been declared a “fallen soldier held by a terror group.”

After their bodies were brought back to Israel and identified by medical and rabbinical authorities, their families were notified.

During the operation to recover the bodies, Master Sgt. (res.) Gal Meir Eisenkot — the son of war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot — and Master Sgt. (res.) Eyal Meir Berkowitz were killed, and other soldiers were wounded.