The mother of a fallen IDF soldier whose remains were retrieved from Gaza last year has died, her municipality announced on Friday.
Zehava Shaul, 71, died from a sustained illness and will be buried in Poriah Ilit near the Sea of Galilee alongside her late husband Herzl and her fallen son, Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, the Jordan Valley Regional Council said in a statement.
Oron Shaul was killed in 2014’s “Operation Protective Edge” and his remains were held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip for more than 10 years before their retrieval in January 2025. Shaul’s remains were rescued in a special covert operation of the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu write in a statement about Zehava Shaul’s passing: “For over a decade we have been in close personal contact with the Shaul family, and we have accompanied their stubborn and courageous struggle to bring Oron home.”
Zehava, Netanyahu added, “did not give up for a moment, even after the passing of her husband Herzl, she bore the pain with extraordinary strength of mind and acted out of boundless maternal love and with an awe-inspiring nobility of soul.” She “got to say goodbye to him and see him brought to eternal rest in our country, which he loved and for which he gave his life.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement: “We received with profound sorrow the news of the passing of Zahava Saul of blessed memory—a courageous, determined, and inspiring mother, who devoted more than a decade to an unrelenting struggle to bring her son.”
Isaac Herzog said he and his wife, Michal Herzog, “were privileged to accompany Zahava and the Saul family over the years, up to the painful and earth-shattering moment when Oron was laid to rest, after more than ten years of waiting, pain, and longing.”
Zahava’s figure “will be etched in the heart of the nation as a mother who never for a moment gave up on her son, and as a symbol of perseverance and hope even in the most difficult moments. May her memory be a blessing,” Herzog wrote.
