IDF recovers body of second Israeli hostage near Shifa Hospital in Gaza

Hostage Cpl. Noa Marciano, 19, of the Israel Defense Forces. Credit: Courtesy.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Friday that it recovered the body of Cpl. Noa Marciano from the Gaza Strip, three days after confirming she was killed by Hamas in captivity.

IDF troops found the body in a building adjacent to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and returned it to Israel for identification.

Marciano, a resident of Modi’in in central Israel, was abducted from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, where she served as a lookout.

On Monday night, Hamas released a video of Marciano that the military described as “psychological terror.” The video claimed that she was killed in an airstrike in Gaza.

The next morning, the IDF cleared for publication that the 19-year-old had already died in captivity.

“After analyzing the footage, experts suggest that her injuries do not align with those typically sustained in airstrikes,” the IDF said in a statement. “The observed wounds appear more consistent with bullet injuries, and there is also an indication that she may have suffered from injuries related to a fall from a height.”

Hamas has denied the International Red Cross access to any of the estimated 240 captives being held in Gaza.

Cancer patient killed in captivity

On Thursday night, the IDF announced that soldiers had located and recovered the body of Yehudit Weiss, 65, from a building near Shifa Hospital.

IDF troops found the body, along with Hamas weapons, including RPGs.

Weiss’s body was identified in Israel, after which the military notified her family.

“Yehudit was murdered by terrorists in the Gaza Strip. We didn’t get to her in time,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told local media at a press briefing on Thursday night.

The Israel Defense Forces recovered the body of Yehudit Weiss, 65, from a building near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Nov. 16, 2023. Credit: Courtesy.

In a statement provided to JNS, the IDF said, “The body of Yehudit Weiss, who was abducted by the Hamas terrorist organization, was extracted by IDF troops from a structure adjacent to the Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip and was transferred to Israeli territory. In the structure in which Yehudit was located, military equipment including Kalashnikov rifles and RPG’s were also found.

“Following an identification process that was conducted by military medical and rabbinate personnel, together with the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Israel Police, today (Thursday), IDF and Israel Police representatives informed the family of Yehudit Weiss, who was abducted from her home in Be’eri on October 7th by the Hamas terrorist organization, that she has been declared dead.

“The IDF sends its heartfelt condolences to the family.

“The national task before our eyes is to locate the missing and return the abducted persons home. The IDF is operating alongside and in full coordination with the relevant national and security institutions in order to pursue these tasks. We will not cease from the mission until it will be completed.”

A mother of five, Weiss was abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri. Her husband, Shmulik Weiss, was murdered in the safe room of their home.

An estimated 10% of Be’eri’s 1,100 residents were killed and an equal number were kidnapped.

Weiss worked with kindergarteners and was receiving radiation therapy to treat breast cancer.

‘Intelligence about the hostages’

In recent weeks, Israel has provided extensive evidence that Hamas uses hospitals, mosques, schools and other civilian sites for their terror warfare against Israel, and that the terror group has a command center in the tunnel system underneath Shifa.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS News on Thursday that Jerusalem has “strong indications” that Hamas kept the hostages captured on Oct. 7 at its command base in Shifa, citing it as one of the reasons why the IDF entered the compound.

“If they were [kept at Shifa], they were taken out. We have intelligence about the hostages, but again … I think, the less I say about it, the better,” he added.

During its operation in Shifa, the IDF found photos of hostages, it revealed on Thursday. One laptop found at the hospital had as a wallpaper a publicly available image of Pvt. Ori Megidish from before she was taken to the Gaza Strip.

Megidish was among the more than 240 people taken hostage by Hamas during the terrorist group’s cross-border invasion, which left at least 1,200 people dead and thousands wounded.

The soldier was freed by IDF special forces late last month. Though other members of her unit were also taken hostage, Megidish is believed to have been held alone.

The IDF added that its latest discovery proves a connection between Hamas activity in Shifa Hospital and the hostages, in addition to “new findings” pointing towards a network of terror tunnels under the medical complex.

With reporting by JNS.

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IDF recovers body of second Israeli hostage near Shifa Hospital in Gaza

Cancer patient killed in captivity

‘Intelligence about the hostages’

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