Dad taken hostage by Hamas along with three of his kids on October 7 found dead in Gaza terror tunnel
A DAD-of 19 who was taken hostage along with three of his kids during the October 7 massacre has been found dead inside a Gaza terror tunnel.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) found the body of Youssef Ziyadne, a Bedouin Muslim, in an underground tunnel in the city of Rafah.
His body was found along with evidence suggesting his son Hamza Zaydani may also have been killed, the Israeli military said.
Two of Ziyadne's other 19 children, who were also taken hostage, were released in November 2023.
The IDF added that Ziyadne's body had been recovered close to the bodies of armed guards from Hamas or another Palestinian militant group.
It was not immediately clear how Youssef Ziyadne had been killed but his death did not appear to have been recent, said Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani.
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He added: "We are currently investigating the circumstances of his death and we are also investigating the findings regarding his son.
"These findings raise concern for his life and they are still being examined at this moment."
Shoshani said special forces soldiers had conducted a "complex and difficult operation" in a tunnel in the area of the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday.
Earlier Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the bodies of both father and son were recovered.
Ziyadne was married with two wives and 19 children. He had been working at a cowshed on a kibbutz when he was abducted. His son Hamza was a married father of two, .
A total of 251 were abducted in the October 7 outrages in 2023 but it is thought that fewer than 50 still live.
Youssef's name had been on the list of 34 hostages shared by Hamas that the group said were set to be released.
An unnamed Hamas official confirmed the group had agreed to release the 34 — but needed “a week of calm” to contact the captors “and identify who is alive and who is dead”.
Hamas also said that the last Brit hostage in Gaza is earmarked for release — but refused to tell if she is alive.
Emily Damari, 28, is second on a list of the names issued by the terror group.
She was shot in the hand and suffered shrapnel wounds to the leg when kidnapped from the Kfar Aza kibbutz village in Israel 15 months ago.
The list of hostages Hamas claims to have agreed to release also includes the youngest Israeli hostage Kfir Bibas, it has been reported.
At just nine months old, baby Kfir was snatched during the October 7 massacre alongside four-year-old brother Ariel and mum Shiri from Nir Oz Kibbutz.
His dad Yarden Bibas gave himself over to Hamas thinking he was saving his family.
In a heartbreaking interview with documentarian Alan Duncan for The Sun, Yarden's traumatised cousin, Yifat Zailer, told how he gave up his life to save his family only to be taunted by Hamas who claimed they had died.
The Bibas family was expected to be released as part of the brief and only ceasefire-hostage negotiation in November 2023.
Instead, baby Kfir turned one last January and remains the youngest hostage to be taken by Hamas.
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The tod's second birthday is coming up in just days.
Kfir could now potentially be released alongside his brother Ariel.