Yair Yaakov, 59: Mechanic who enjoyed the ‘simple things in life’

Yair “Yaya” Yaakov, 59, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was murdered by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists on October 7 and his body taken captive to Gaza.

Yair and his partner, Merav Tal, were hiding in their reinforced room when terrorists broke into their home and blew up the door with grenades, seriously wounding Yair. “Help me, they shot us, Yaya’s hurt. Call the police,” Merav told her family in a voice note.

Yair was slain and his body taken to Gaza and Merav was also kidnapped. Separately, two of Yair’s children, Or and Yagil, at the time ages 16 and 12, were taken hostage from their mother’s home in the kibbutz. His oldest daughter, Shir, who was in her own apartment, miraculously survived after the terrorists were unable to break down her door.

Merav, Or and Yagil were freed in the November 2023 ceasefire deal. While Yair was seen being taken hostage alive, in February 2024, Israeli authorities confirmed that he had been killed in the October attack and his body taken captive.

On June 11, 2025, Yair’s body was recovered by IDF troops from Khan Younis in southern Gaza and returned to Israel.

He was buried in Kibbutz Nir Oz on June 20. He is survived by his three children, Shir, Or and Yagil, his partner, Merav, his mother, Shoshana, and his siblings Yarden, Yoram and Yaniv.

Yair was born in Ofakim in 1964 to a Karaite Jewish family who had immigrated from Egypt. The oldest of the four siblings, Yair decided at age 14 that he wanted to spend his high school years in the Mikve Israel agricultural youth village.

After graduating, he joined the Nahal Brigade with a unit that was based at Kibbutz Magen near the Gaza border, where he remained for a number of years.

In 1995, he moved to Kibbutz Nir Oz after his marriage to Renana, and there they raised their three children. Yair worked at first in agriculture on the kibbutz, dealing with the irrigation systems, and later became a foreman on a number of farms.

In later years, he worked as a mechanic on the nearby Kibbutz Alumim, where his coworkers said he would always show up early for work with his signature Turkish coffee.

After his divorce from Renana, Yair met Merav, from Rishon Lezion, and they spent eight years together, integrating their blended family.

“My best friend, we had a home which was blossoming with joy,” said Merav after his body was retrieved. “He was an old-fashioned man, a mensch. We loved watching the sunsets together; he always took care of everything. He had a dream of taking a big RV trip” after retiring.

“I miss our small moments, our daily life,” she added. “At least I told him that I loved him a moment before he was kidnapped from me.”

His son, Or, said that “my dad was a simple guy, with a huge heart. He loved the land of this country, the fields, the nature, the little and simple things in life. He always taught us to appreciate what we had, to smile, to be happy, to try and be cheerful, even when things are hard.”

His father, he said, “was always there for us. Family was the most important thing to us. All he wanted was to see us happy… It’s hard to think that we’ll never get to sit with him again, to talk to him, to hug him.”

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