June 5 (UPI) -- Israel said Thursday it had recovered the remains of two Israeli-American hostages in a military operation overnight in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on X that the bodies of Gadi Haggai, 72, and Judy Weinstein-Haggai, 70, had been returned to their families in Israel 20 months after they were killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and taken back to Gaza.
He said the married couple were recovered in a special operation mounted by the Israeli Security Agency and Israel Defense Forces.
"I would like to thank, and express appreciation to, the fighters and commanders for this determined and successful operation. We will not rest, nor will we be silent, until we return home all of our hostages -- the living and the deceased," Netanyahu said.
The couple, who held U.S. citizenship, were out for a morning walk near their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz when they were gunned down by Mujahideen Brigades fighters who joined the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 in which around 1,200 Israelis were killed and hundreds abducted.
