Who Was Yehudit Weiss? Israeli Hostage By Hamas Found Dead

On Thursday, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) recovered the body of an Israeli woman kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas militants from a building adjacent to Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip with militant arms around her dead body. 

The 65-year-old Yehudit Weiss was the mother of five and a kindergarten teacher who was abducted from her home in South Israel's Kibbutz Be'eri by the Hamas militants during the October 7 air rocket attack on Israel. Weiss was also reported to be suffering from cancer. 

Israeli Hostage By Hamas Found Dead:

As Israel's forces have been for a long time claiming Hamas to have established a secret tunnel and base under the hospital and many other residential areas to store ammunition and hostages, the IDF on Thursday seized Al-Shifa Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip. 

The IDF claimed to have found intelligence materials, footage of hostages on the computers, and military ammunition that belonged to Hamas militants as the Israeli forces raided the hospital on Thursday, which tented more than 2300 people, including patients, staff, and civilians. 

IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari informed the ground forces on Friday that they had recovered the body of Yehudit Weiss near the structure adjacent to the Al-Shifa hospital and claimed she had been killed by the Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. In the statement, he said, "We didn't manage to reach her in time."

On the other hand, Hamas has accused Israel of killing its own hostages during its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip. 

However, the Israeli forces, upon extracting the body of Yehuditt Weiss, also claimed to have found militant pieces of equipment such as assault rifles, AK-47s, RPGs, etc. that belonged to the Hamas military. 

Who Was Yehudit Weiss?:

On the official account of the IDF on X (formerly Twitter), a post read that Yehudit Weiss (65) was a mother of five and a kindergarten teacher who was abducted by Hamas terrorists in an October 7 attack from her home in South Israel's Kibbutz Be'eri while her husband Shmulik Weiss was killed by the militants.

Reportedly, Wiess was a cancer patient and was diagnosed with breast cancer just three months before the Hamas attack on Israel. Weiss recently retired from her job as a kindergarten teacher, and her friends and family said she loved to travel, bake, and read. 

Weiss was among the 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas militants from Israel.

Suggested reading: Who Is Noa Marciano? Israeli Army Soldier, 19, Held Hostage By Hamas