IDF Recovers Bodies of 2 Israeli Hostages Taken on October 7
On Tuesday evening, the Israel Defense Forces announced the recovery of the bodies of two Israeli hostages taken on October 7.
The operation to retrieve and return the bodies to Israel was carried out by IDF personnel from the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 and the 551st Brigade.
Following recovery and the completion of an identification process conducted by medical officials and military rabbis, the families of Eden Zakaria and IDF Warrant Officer Ziv Dado were notified of the situation and that the bodies had been returned to Israel.
Zakaria, 27, was attending the Supernova music festival in Re’im when she was taken hostage by terrorists. Reports indicate that she was one of 40 festivalgoers taken during the attack.
Dado, 36, who was identified by IDF intelligence as a “fallen soldier in captivity,” was serving as a logistics supervisor in the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion when he was killed during the October 7 rampage.
During the operation to reclaim the bodies of Zakaria and Dado, two IDF soldiers were killed in combat, and multiple others were injured. Killed in action were Master Sgt. (res.) Gal Meir Eisenkot — the son of war cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot — and Master Sgt. (res.) Eyal Meir Berkowitz.
Regarding the return of the bodies, the IDF stated, “Our national mission is to locate the missing and return all the hostages home. We are working together with security agencies and using all intelligence and operational means to return all of the hostages home.”
