Widow of Tal Haimi says return of his body shows ‘nation does not forget its fighters’

By Jessica Steinberg

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

21 October 2025, 3:58 pm

1 Edit

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Tal Haimi (right) with his wife Ela, was abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. His family was told on December 13, 2023, that he was killed during the October 7 attack. His body was returned to Israel on October 20, 2025. (Courtesy)

Ela Haimi, the widow of Tal Haimi, offers a statement after her husband’s body was returned by Hamas from Gaza last night after being held for two years.

Haimi says that her husband — who headed Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak’s emergency response team and was killed in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack — last left home on the morning of the Hamas invasion on October 7, 2023, taking a vest, weapon and helmet.

“I am here today primarily as a mother — of Nir, Einav, Udi and Lotan,” says Haimi, whose youngest was born after his father was killed. “All four of them live with the memory of a father who defended his home, but they did not get to say goodbye to him.”

Ela Haimi, the widow of Tal Haimi, speaks on October 21, 2025, after her husband’s body was returned from Gaza overnight after being held for two years. (Channel 13 screenshot)

Udi Goren, Haimi’s cousin and a leading figure in the struggle to bring his body home, notes that Haimi will be buried Wednesday in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, which their grandparents founded and where his cousin grew up and built a family before dying in its defense.

“There is no other place on earth where Tal should find eternal rest other than here at the kibbutz,” says Goren, adding that Nir Yitzhak isn’t whole without Lior Rudaeff, a fellow member of the emergency response team whose body hasn’t yet been returned to Israel for burial. Rudaeff is one of 15 deceased hostages whose bodies have yet to be returned from Gaza.

Ela Haimi, second from left, with her four children, including baby Lotan, born after Ela’s husband, Tal, was killed defending their kibbutz on October 7, 2023 and his body taken hostage to Gaza (Nir Davidzon/IDFWO)

“Tal’s return for burial is not the end of the story; it is the beginning of a new hope for my children,” says Haimi, who recently brought her family back home to live in Nir Yitzhak. “They grow up knowing that the nation does not forget its fighters.”

She added, “The funeral is a national moment, not only a family one; it is an expression of our collective commitment — to return every soldier, every hostage, every missing person — to the land he loved. This is not only a personal closing of a circle; it is also a promise to Israeli society as a whole: We will not rest until all the sons return home.”