IDF Spokesman: 3 Missing Persons are Now Classified as Abductees

Photo by Yonatan Sindeli/Flash90 background — Photo by Yonatan Sindeli/Flash90

IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed this evening (Thursday) that three Israeli citizens who were defined as missing until now - are now recognized as abductees. As a result, the total number of abductees in captivity in the Gaza Strip now stands at 136 people.

According to Hagari, the decision to recognize the three as abductees "was made in light of the exhaustion of the scanning and investigation operations in the territory of the country, and after an examination of all the reasonable scenarios and the information we have. We have updated all the families with details, and we continue to update the families all the time with every detail of information we have."

He also noted that these abductees "join Hadar, Oron, Hisham and Avera who are being held in Gaza. We continue to work with all intelligence and operational efforts to create the conditions for the return of the abductees home."

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These are the missing people who have now been defined as abductees

One of the missing people identified as abducted today is Hanan Yavlonka, 42 years old from Tel Aviv who has been missing for 90 days after he was last seen at the party in Re'im on October 7. The family of Idan Shtivi, who worked as a photographer at the party in Re'im and has been identified as missing since then, has been informed that he is now identified as an abductee.

Orit, Hanan's sister, wrote on social media that "we have been officially informed that our beloved Hanan has been kidnapped. We will continue to count his days in captivity, and we will pray that he will return to us soon. Brother, I love you. Be strong a little longer, I promise that we will not stop fighting for you."

(Video: Bentzi Rubin, Srugim)

The third missing person who is now defined as an abductee is Ilan Weiss, 56 years old from Kibbutz Be'eri. Last Monday, the kibbutz announced that he was murdered, after being considered missing since October 7. His wife Shiri and daughter Noga were also kidnapped to Gaza, and were released last month in the hostage deal.