Jerusalem, 8 November, 2025 (TPS-IL) — The Prime Minister’s Office announced that the remains of a hostage returned by Hamas terrorists in Gaza last night, and examined by the Institute of Forensic Medicine, were those of Lior Rudaeff, aged 61 on 7 October 2023.
‘IDF representatives have informed his family that their loved one has been returned to Israel and that identification has been completed. The government of Israel shares in the profound grief of the Rudaeff family and all families of deceased hostages,’ the statement read.
‘After 763 nightmarish days, he has returned home”, his daughter Noam wrote on her Instagram account’. ‘Now you are home; now you are here. Thank you to all the kind people who supported us in our relentless and humane efforts to bring him and all the other hostages home,” she added.
Lior Rudaeff, from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, was murdered near his home on October 7, 2023 and his body was taken to Gaza. However, before his death, he sent a message to his family saying that he had been injured. His phone was later tracked in Khan Yunis, leading his family to believe for months that he was still alive.
An ambulance driver and volunteer medic, Lior received an early-morning call on 7 October to say that the kibbutz was under attack. As a member of the civilian rapid response team, he defended the kibbutz and was killed while fighting the Hamas terrorists.
Around 1,200 people were killed and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. The bodies of three Israelis and one foreign national are still held in Gaza.