Shlomi Ziv returned to his home in the northern border community of Moshav Elkosh on Tuesday, some three weeks after being rescued from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip.
The former captive was welcomed by Shimon Guetta, the head of the Ma’ale Yosef Regional Council, which administers the Western Galilee village.
“This is a very exciting day for all of us—to see Shlomi return to his home, and our home, in Ma’ale Yosef. God willing, we will soon be able to celebrate the return of the other 120 hostages,” Guetta told attendees at the welcome event.
Guy Katz, a resident of nearby Moshav Me’ona, told Ynet that residents of the area were “deeply moved” when Ziv was rescued.
“This is a ray of hope, as some of our council’s residents are evacuated, and the rest are holding the border towns with an iron fist,” said Katz, in reference to ongoing Hezbollah terrorist attacks. “Together, we will win.”
Ziv, 40, was a member of the security team at the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel, where terrorists led by Hamas murdered more than 360 people during the Oct. 7 invasion.
During the attack, Ziv stayed to fend off gunmen and evacuate people. He was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli security forces rescued Ziv during “Operation Arnon” on June 8. along with Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir Jan from two separate locations in Nuseirat Camp in the central Gaza Strip.
More than 250 people were abducted to Gaza during Hamas’s Oct. 7 invasion of the northwestern Negev. Thousands more were killed and wounded by the terrorist group, with numerous atrocities documented.
One hundred twenty hostages remain in the Strip, of whom 116 were abducted on Oct. 7 (the other four were captured earlier). The figure includes both living and deceased men, women and children.
At least dozens of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, a senior Israeli official involved in the indirect negotiations with Hamas said last week.
