The body of Israeli hostage Meny Godard has been returned to Israel. The bodies of three more hostages remain in Gaza.
By Rachel Avraham
Israel on Thursday night recovered the remains of hostage Meny (Menachem) Godard, who was murdered by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, and whose body was taken into the Gaza Strip, JNS reported.
According to the report, Meny was 73 at the time of his murder and abduction from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri. His death was officially confirmed on Dec. 8, 2023, JNS added. According to the report, he is survived by four children and seven grandchildren. His wife, Ayelet Godard, was also killed during the massacre at Kibbutz Be’eri, JNS noted.
On October 7, Ayelet Godard called one of the couple’s children, screaming that Meny had been killed and she was hiding in the bushes from the terrorists, the Times of Israel reported. According to the report, the couple had been hiding from Hamas-led terrorists in the safe room of their home, fled when the home was set on fire, and Meny was killed by the terrorists waiting outside. The Times of Israel reported that Ayelet was never heard from again, and her body was found some time later. However, Meny’s was abducted to Gaza and he was deprived the right to have a proper Jewish funeral until now.
“The IDF expresses deep condolences to the families, continues to make every effort to return all the deceased hostages, and is prepared for the continued implementation of the [ceasefire] agreement,” the military said in a statement.
“Hamas is required to fulfill its part of the agreement and make the necessary efforts to return all the hostages to their families and to a dignified burial,” it added. According to JNS, Palestinian terrorists are still holding the bodies of three captives: two Israelis—Sgt. Ran Gvili and Dror Or—and a Thai citizen, Sudthisak Rinthalak, who was working in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
According to the Times of Israel, on Friday evening, the Godard family issued a statement saying: “Dad has been returned. Not home, and not in the way we would have wanted. His return is a sad one — it is the final confirmation of the tragedy that happened to us — but we had to reach this resolution. These past weeks have been unbearably difficult. Now we can begin to heal and return to life.”
The Times of Israel reported that the family thanked “all the people of Israel who stood by us — the Hostages Families Forum, the IDF, the Prisoner and Missing Persons Directorate, and all the security forces.” It offered its condolences “to all the bereaved families who paid the heaviest price of all.”
According to the Times of Israel, the family stressed that “there are still three families trapped in this nightmare, and for them and on their behalf we will continue to fight.” Turning to the families of the three remaining slain hostages, the statement said: “We are with you. As Dad said, ‘It’s not over until it’s over.’”
The Times of Israel reported that a eulogy posted on the kibbutz website remembered Ayelet as a longtime educator, “a special teacher, one of days gone by, the kind who brought nature into the classroom and took the children outside,” and shaped many of the youth who grew up in the kibbutz and nearby. She was an “incredible mother and a revered grandmother,” who also “believed with all her heart in the kibbutz and its members, and was an active part of the kibbutz life.”
According to the Times of Israel, Meny, the kibbutz eulogized, had “a love of sports, the ocean and people.” He was a professional soccer player in the 1970s before enlisting in the army and fighting in the Yom Kippur War. In the kibbutz, he worked in a variety of positions, including in the printing house, the local kibbutz store, the chief economist, and as a lifeguard.
Their son Goni wrote on Facebook after their deaths that they were “people with a special heart of gold… Everyone wanted to say thank you — thank you for all the years that you hugged us and loved us. Thank you for the endless support and help. Thank you for all the experiences we had with you.”
“These are the people you were — people who spread light in every direction, people of people, thank you for everything,” he wrote. “You will always, always, no matter what, be an inseparable part of us.”
Photo from DD India: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5aok31czrY
