‘Her heart could not withstand the suffering’: released hostage dies
Kibbutz Nir Oz resident Hana Katzir a 77-year-old hostage released from captivity during a temporary ceasefire died, on Tuesday morning.
Hanna Katzir
“Mum was a loving woman, wife and mother who gave nothing but love,” said her daughter, Carmit Palty Katzir, in a statement released by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. “Her heart could not withstand the terrible suffering since October 7.”
Katzir, one of 105 civilian hostages freed during a temporary ceasefire in November 2023, was hospitalized immediately after her release, with family members saying at the time that ” “the trauma, hunger and lack of medical care caused her heart problems.” The family said Katzir did not have heart medication or a walker while in captivity.
After returning from captivity, she learned that her husband, Rami, had been murdered in their home on October 7 and that her son Elad had been taken captive. Soldiers recovered Elad’s body in Khan Yunis and brought it back for burial in April.
Katzir will buried at Kibbutz Nir Oz on Tuesday. She is survived by three children and six grandchildren.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
