Funerals have been held in Israel on Thursday for slain hostages Workers Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi and Sgt. Maj. Muhammad el-Atrash, after their our bodies have been returned this week by Hamas as a part of a ceasefire deal.
Nimrodi, 18, was serving within the IDF Schooling Corps on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists kidnapped him from his army base and took him into Gaza alive. He’s believed to have been killed shortly afterward, probably in an IDF strike.
Atrash, 39, a tracker within the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, was killed whereas battling Hamas terrorists within the space of Nahal Oz on October 7 and his physique was seized.
Hundreds of mourners turned out to Nimrodi’s funeral on Thursday at Kfar Saba’s army cemetery. There, the slain soldier’s household lamented a loss of life that had been unconfirmed till hours earlier than Tamir was returned from captivity, two years after he was killed.
No signal of life had been reported from Nimrodi since his abduction alongside two different troopers on October 7, footage of which rapidly circulated on-line. His family members had continued to carry out out hope that he was nonetheless alive.
His father, Alon Nimrodi, advised his son in a eulogy that he fought in each attainable approach to convey him house. He described Tamir’s highly effective hugs, his rolling laughter along with his sisters, his nervousness and the remedy that he deserted when he enlisted.
Household and mates of slain hostage Workers Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi attend his funeral at Kfar Saba Army Cemetery on October 16, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Alon additionally shared emotions of guilt for pushing his son to enlist, telling him there was no draft-dodging of their household, and that he didn’t oppose his son’s placement on the Gaza Strip border.
“Forgive me, my firstborn, my beloved — forgive me!” he mentioned.
The slain hostage’s father additionally recalled that “at first of the battle, they requested the households of the hostages to ship recordings of their family members’ voices,” as a part of efforts to find them.
“We had hassle discovering recordings of your voice, however your pals despatched us a brief video of you guys hanging out, the place you say to them: ‘Shot? Shot?”
“So, we’re elevating a shot glass in your honor and in your reminiscence, together with your open vodka that’s been sitting at house with me ready so that you can return,” he mentioned, earlier than ingesting it.
Alon Nimrodi, proper, prepares to take a shot of vodka as he eulogizes his son Tamir, being laid to relaxation in Kfar Saba a day after Hamas returned his physique, on October 16, 2025. (Alon Gilboa/Hostages Discussion board)
Herut Nimrodi, the fallen soldier’s mom, mentioned that he’s being buried on the identical day on the Jewish calendar that he was killed two years in the past, the twenty fourth of Tishrei.
“I obtained the information that shattered my coronary heart, crushed each shred of hope, emptied me of the little power I had left,” she mentioned. “Your physique has been recognized and returned to Israel. You’re right here. You’ve come again.”
She famous that she was standing nearer to him now than she had within the final two years, however with out a hug, or therapeutic, or peace. Nimrodi advised her son to relaxation, figuring out that his soul is lastly free.
She promised him to not sink, to handle herself and his sisters.
“We are going to meet once more, head to head, sometime sooner or later,” his mom mentioned. “Me, with wrinkles and white hair, and also you… you’ll perpetually stay my pure 18-year-old boy.”
Nimrodi’s sister, Amit, 14, mentioned: “I miss you, I miss once we’d keep awake till the midnight and discuss all the things; I miss your hugs if you’d return from the military, and I miss the nights after I’d sleep in your room with you. Now I sleep there alone each evening.”
Workers Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi (Courtesy)
Amit recalled the uncertainty of two years with out figuring out her brother’s destiny: “We waited for a hug, however on the similar time we waited for a knock on the door, and it didn’t matter how a lot we ready ourselves for the worst — we weren’t prepared for the second they advised us you weren’t coming again. It damage a lot, like a thousand stabs within the chest.”
“You fulfilled the position of an enormous brother completely. You all the time sorted me, each little factor, you’d put together meals for me in the course of the evening, you taught me all the things I do know,” she mentioned.
Amit talked about the be aware discovered inside her brother’s uniform, when he wrote that his targets have been to assist as many individuals as attainable, to construct a detailed circle of mates, and to not damage anybody.
“To me, that’s your will,” mentioned Amit, “and I’ll do all the things I can to satisfy it.”
Later within the day on Thursday, Sgt. Maj. Muhammad el-Atrash’s funeral was held in Sa’wa, a Bedouin city close to Beersheba, attended by his household and mourners from the neighborhood.
He’s survived by his two wives, Amna and Ktimal, 13 youngsters and 22 siblings, based on the IDF, in addition to his dad and mom.
On Thursday morning, the slain hostage’s cousin, Nimr, advised the Walla information website: “We’re unhappy, however at the very least there’s a spot to bury him, after two years,” including: “He was a very good man, a frontrunner, all the time a listening ear for everyone, a particular individual.”
Mourners attend the funeral of IDF Sgt. Maj. Muhammad el-Atrash, throughout his the funeral in his village of Sa’wa, a southern Bedouin neighborhood close to Beersheba, on October 16, 2025. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
Muhammad’s brother Salem advised Walla: “The State of Israel should do all the things to return the remainder of the fallen hostages,” including: “The remainder of the households whose family members are [fallen] hostages there — they’re like my brothers and sisters.”
Atrash, 39, served as a tracker within the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade, and was killed that day battling terrorists within the space of Nahal Oz, after which the terrorists took his physique to Gaza.
At his funeral, Gaza Division chief Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram mentioned the ultimate affirmation of Atrash’s loss of life “shattered the guts.”
“At the moment, as he has returned, we stand along with appreciation and ache,” added Hiram, based on the Haaretz every day. “Muhammad was a task mannequin and a very good instance. He demonstrated braveness and love. He was a bridge of mutual accountability on this nation.”
The IDF common advised members of the Atrash household that they need to “really feel pleasure in him for his dedication and his bravery.”
Hostages Inbar Haiman (left) and Sgt. Maj. Muhammad el-Atrash, whose our bodies have been returned by Hamas late October 15, 2025. (Courtesy)
The household of Inbar Haiman, whose physique was additionally returned Wednesday night alongside that of Atrash, introduced Thursday that her funeral can be held on Friday on the Yarkon Cemetery in Petah Tikva. They invited the general public to put on pink in her honor and collect with Israeli flags alongside the route of the funeral procession.
Haiman, 27, a visible communications scholar from Haifa, was murdered by terrorists on the Nova music pageant close to Re’im on October 7, and her physique was kidnapped to Gaza. Her loss of life was formally declared by Israeli authorities in December 2023.
The ultimate 20 residing hostages have been freed by Hamas on Monday as a part of a US-brokered ceasefire that mandated the fear group to additionally hand over all 28 slain captives. As of Thursday afternoon, solely 9 our bodies had been returned, and Hamas claimed it couldn’t find or entry the opposite stays with out help.
