At funeral of slain Gaza hostage, family calls Israel PM 'enemy'
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Hundreds gathered Monday in southern Israel for the funeral of Danish-Israeli hostage Itzik Elgarat
NIR ‘OZ (Israel) (AFP) – Hundreds gathered on Monday in southern Israel for the funeral of Danish-Israeli hostage Itzik Elgarat, whose family levelled sharp criticism at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of abandoning their loved one in Gaza.
Elgarat, then 68 years old, was abducted from his kibbutz of Nir Oz near the Gaza border during Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 which sparked more than 15 months of war.
He was captured alive and, according to Netanyahu's office, "murdered while held hostage in Gaza". His body was one of eight returned by Palestinian militants last month under a ceasefire deal.
Hundreds of mourners came to pay their respects as Elgarat's black coffin topped with an Israeli flag was brought to Nir Oz on Monday, AFP journalists said.
His brother said that while it was Palestinian militant group Hamas that captured him, Netanyahu's government had failed to save him.
"We fought with all our might (but) we failed," Daniel Elgarat said in his eulogy, recalling the struggle of the hostages' families to pressure the Israeli government to secure their release.
"Netanyahu defeated us and you did not return from captivity," he said.
"The enemy who caused your death was unfortunately not the one who kidnapped you, but the one who abandoned you."
Elgarat's sister, Rachel Dancyg, herself a survivor of the 2023 attack on Nir Oz, said she "truly believed you would return alive".
In captivity, "they tortured you, they starved you, and you died in unimaginable agony," she said.
"We failed to save you and our friends, we failed to fight against an opaque, smug and evil government."
Netanyahu, speaking in parliament on Monday, was booed by relatives of hostages who accuse him of sacrificing the captives for his political ambitions.
To Daniel Elgarat, his brother's death meant the end of "the value of mutual responsibility and the value of life in Israeli society -- values that distinguished us from our enemies".
It was the end of the "state that did not fullfil its duty, that stood by while your life was in danger," he said.
"It abandoned you to die in the hands of Hamas."
Itzik Elgarat had spent 12 years in Denmark, where his two children live.
He was among 251 captives taken during the Hamas attack, 58 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
The prime minister said in his speech before parliament that Hamas would face consequences it "cannot imagine" if it does not release the remaining captives, as efforts to extend the truce appeared at an impasse.
In addition to the remains of Elgarat and seven other dead hostages, 25 living Israeli captive were released during the first phase of the Gaza truce in exchange for about 1,800 Palestinians in Israeli custody.
