The family of 29-year-old Idan Shtivi was informed by Israel Defense Forces officials on Sunday night that their loved one is no longer among the living. His body remains captive, held by the Hamas terrorists who kidnapped him and 250 others from southern Israel on Shabbat Simchat Torah, October 7, 2023.
The announcement was made by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and the Petach Tikva municipality, which said Shtivi — believed to be alive up to this point — was in fact murdered by Hamas terrorists who then stole his body, adding it to others taken to Gaza the same way.
Shtivi’s death was determined by a panel of medical experts together with those from the Israel Police and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, based on new intelligence gathered by the IDF. He leaves behind his parents, three siblings and a partner.
“With great sorrow and immense pain, we were informed of the murder of a resident of Petah Tikva, Idan Shtivi, by Hamas on the morning of Simchat Torah, 10/7/2023. His body was kidnapped and is being held in Gaza,” the municipality said in its statement.
“Until now, we all prayed that Idan was among the living and will return to his family. Unfortunately, the bitter news shattered this hope. Idan is like city resident Inbar Hayman, who was also murdered and whose body is still in Gaza. We hope to bring them home soon for a proper burial.
“This is also the place to remember Daniella Gilboa, a city resident who is still alive and has been in Hamas captivity for over a year, who will with God’s help return to us quickly, along with all the other men and women held hostage,” the city added.
The terrible news came on the eve of the first anniversary of the October 7th invasion of southern Israel. Some 1,200 people were tortured and slaughtered on that day in 2023 by thousands of Hamas-led terrorists who streamed across the broken security fence at the border.
Another 251 people were kidnapped as hostages by the hordes and dragged into Gaza captivity, including Shtivi, who was at the Nova music festival being held at Kibbutz Re’im at the time.
