Bedouin father taken hostage on Oct. 7 found dead in Gaza; evidence suggests son was also killed
Two teens from the Ziyadne family were released during a brief ceasefire in November 2023
Posters calling for the return of four members of the Bedouin Ziadna family from Rahat who were kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, were written in Hebrew, English and Arabic and hung in the center of Tel Aviv, Nov. 30, 2023. (Yahel Gazit / Middle East Images / via AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Israeli troops have retrieved the body of a Bedouin Muslim father of 19 who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
It was not immediately clear how and when Youssef Ziyadne died, but authorities said his body had been found in a Hamas tunnel in Rafah and that evidence indicated “grave concern” about his son Hamza’s fate.
The father and son had been taken hostage while tending to cows on a kibbutz near their home in the Bedouin city of Rahat where Youssef Ziyadne had worked for nearly two decades. Two of Youssef Ziyadne’s other children — Aisha and Bilal, then 17 and 18 — were also abducted before being released on the last day of a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
The father and son, who were 52 and 22 when they were taken hostage, had been seen by other hostages and had previously been assumed to be alive. The retrieval brings to 99 the number of hostages who remain in Gaza, as pressure intensifies on Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal that would secure their release.
“The emerging agreement comes far too late for Youssef — who was taken alive and should have returned the same way,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. “Every day in captivity poses an immediate mortal danger to the hostages who have managed to survive for 15 months, and threatens the possibility of returning the deceased for burial.”
The family had lobbied widely for Youssef and Hamza’s release, with Youssef’s brother confronting a Palestinian representative at the United Nations to petition on their behalf last year.
A cousin of the family gained renown for rescuing dozens of Nova music festivalgoers on Oct. 7, drawing attention to the Bedouin minority that remains marginalized and disadvantaged in many ways within Israeli society. “After this, the government needs to do a better job of looking after us because we’re also part of this nation,” the cousin, also named Youssef Ziadna, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in October. “We are one people — we are Israelis. We live here together and we need to go hand in hand.”
Israeli troops rescued another Bedouin from Rahat, Farhan al-Qadi, in August during an operation in southern Gaza. The father of 11 had been taken hostage while working as a security guard at an Israeli kibbutz.
Shortly afterwards, Hamas announced “new instructions” for its operatives to kill hostages if Israeli troops neared. Soon after, Israeli troops located the bodies of six hostages in Rafah who they said had been only recently executed.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
