Hundreds of mourners gathered in southern Israel on Monday for the funeral of Danish-Israeli hostage Itzik Elgarat, where his family fiercely criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of failing to secure his release from Gaza.
Elgarat, 68, was abducted from his home in Nir Oz during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. According to Netanyahu’s office, he was “murdered while held hostage in Gaza,” and his body was among eight returned by Palestinian militants last month under a ceasefire deal.
Mourners watched as his black coffin, draped with an Israeli flag, was carried through Nir Oz. His family’s grief was accompanied by anger directed at Israel’s leadership.
“Netanyahu Defeated Us”
Elgarat’s brother, Daniel, acknowledged Hamas as the group that had kidnapped him but placed blame on Netanyahu’s government for failing to bring him home alive.
“We fought with all our might, but we failed,” he said. “Netanyahu defeated us, and you did not return from captivity.”
“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, who survived the October 7 attack on Nir Oz, said she had truly believed her brother would return alive. Instead, she described the horrors he endured while 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.”
Hostage Families Confront Netanyahu
The Israeli prime minister, speaking in parliament on Monday, was met with boos from relatives of other hostages who have accused him of sacrificing their loved ones for political gain. Daniel Elgarat lamented what he saw as a betrayal of fundamental Israeli values.
“The value of mutual responsibility and the value of life in Israeli society—values that distinguished us from our enemies—are gone,” he said.
“It was the end of the state that did not fulfil its duty, that stood by while your life was in danger. It abandoned you to die in the hands of Hamas.”
Elgarat, who had spent 12 years in Denmark where his two children live, was one of 251 hostages taken during the October 7 attack. According to Israeli authorities, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 whom the military believes are dead.
Netanyahu warned on Monday that Hamas would face consequences it “cannot imagine” if it does not release the remaining captives.
During the first phase of the Gaza truce, 25 living Israeli hostages were freed in exchange for around 1,800 Palestinians held in Israeli custody without fair trial, alongside the return of Elgarat’s remains and those of seven other hostages.
