Israeli Lior Rudaeff was declared dead on Tuesday night, exactly seven months after he was presumed to have been abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 massacre.
A statement from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak did not provide additional details.
Rudaeff, an ambulance driver and volunteer medic, fought alongside the kibbutz’s security team during the Hamas invasion.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was killed on Oct. 7 and his body is being held in the Gaza Strip, without clarifying how this determination was made.
Rudaeff is survived by his wife Yaffa and four children.
Two more Israeli victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre were declared dead late last week—Elyakim Libman, 23, a security guard at the Nova music festival presumed to have been taken hostage but whose body was found in Israeli territory, and Dror Or, 49, who was kidnapped to Gaza from Kibbutz Be’eri.
The Israel Defense Forces announced the discovery of Libman’s remains on May 3. According to Israeli media reports, they were accidentally buried along with those of other Nova victims. The military said that his death was determined based on “findings that were identified following a complex investigation” carried out by the Israel Defense Forces, the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israeli Health Ministry.
Or was captured by Hamas terrorists along with two of his children—Alma, 13, and Noam, 17—during the hours-long assault on the northwestern Negev. He was murdered during the onslaught and his body was taken to Gaza, Israeli official confirmed on May 2.
His wife, Yonat, was also murdered on Oct. 7. Alma and Noam were released in November as part of a truce agreement. A third child, Yahli, was away from the kibbutz on that date and was spared.
