Yair “Yaya” Yaakov, 59, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was murdered by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists on October 7 and his physique taken captive to Gaza.
Yair and his companion, Merav Tal, had been hiding of their strengthened room when terrorists broke into their residence and blew up the door with grenades, severely wounding Yair. “Assist me, they shot us, Yaya’s damage. Name the police,” Merav informed her household in a voice notice.
Yair was slain and his physique taken to Gaza and Merav was additionally kidnapped. Individually, two of Yair’s kids, Or and Yagil, on the time ages 16 and 12, had been taken hostage from their mom’s residence within the kibbutz. His oldest daughter, Shir, who was in her personal condominium, miraculously survived after the terrorists had been unable to interrupt down her door.
Merav, Or and Yagil had been freed within the November 2023 ceasefire deal. Whereas Yair was seen being taken hostage alive, in February 2024, Israeli authorities confirmed that he had been killed within the October assault and his physique taken captive.
On June 11, 2025, Yair’s physique was recovered by IDF troops from Khan Younis in southern Gaza and returned to Israel.
He was buried in Kibbutz Nir Ozon June 20. He’s survived by his three kids, Shir, Or and Yagil, his companion, Merav, his mom, Shoshana, and his siblings Yarden, Yoram and Yaniv.
Yair was born in Ofakim in 1964 to a Karaite Jewish household who had immigrated from Egypt. The oldest of the 4 siblings, Yair determined at age 14 that he needed to spend his highschool years within the Mikve Israel agricultural youth village.
After graduating, he joined the Nahal Brigade with a unit that was primarily based at Kibbutz Magen close to the Gaza border, the place he remained for a lot of years.
In 1995, he moved to Kibbutz Nir Ozafter his marriage to Renana, and there they raised their three kids. Yair labored at first in agriculture on the kibbutz, coping with the irrigation programs, and later grew to become a foreman on a lot of farms.
In later years, he labored as a mechanic on the close by Kibbutz Alumim, the place his coworkers mentioned he would at all times present up early for work together with his signature Turkish espresso.
After his divorce from Renana, Yair met Merav, from Rishon Lezion, and so they spent eight years collectively, integrating their blended household.
“My greatest buddy, we had a house which was blossoming with pleasure,” mentioned Merav after his physique was retrieved. “He was an old school man, a mensch. We beloved watching the sunsets collectively; he at all times took care of every little thing. He had a dream of taking an enormous RV journey” after retiring.
“I miss our small moments, our every day life,” she added. “No less than I informed him that I beloved him a second earlier than he was kidnapped from me.”
His son, Or, mentioned that “my dad was a easy man, with an enormous coronary heart. He beloved the land of this nation, the fields, the character, the little and easy issues in life. He at all times taught us to understand what we had, to smile, to be joyful, to try to be cheerful, even when issues are laborious.”
His father, he mentioned, “was at all times there for us. Household was a very powerful factor to us. All he needed was to see us joyful… It’s laborious to suppose that we’ll by no means get to take a seat with him once more, to speak to him, to hug him.”
