The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced early Wednesday that the two hostage bodies were returned from Gaza overnight have been identified as Arie “Zalman” Zalmanowicz, 85, and Tamir Adar, 38 — both residents of Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities in Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre.

Zalmanowicz, a founding member of Nir Oz and one of Israel’s oldest hostages, was abducted from his home during the Hamas invasion and died in captivity. Adar, a father of two, was killed while defending his kibbutz as part of its volunteer emergency response team. Hamas gunmen later took his body into Gaza.

The return of their remains, coordinated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, comes amid a fragile ceasefire under which Hamas has been releasing the bodies of slain hostages in exchange for the repatriation of Palestinian dead from Israel.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Zalmanowicz was kidnapped after texting his son that terrorists had infiltrated the kibbutz. Hamas later released a video showing him bleeding and being transported on a motorcycle into Gaza. He was officially declared dead in November 2023 based on intelligence gathered by the IDF but could not be laid to rest until now.

A pioneer of the Negev and one of Nir Oz’s founders, Zalmanowicz was remembered by his kibbutz as a man “of agriculture, manual labor, and blue work clothes — a farmer by blood who understood the land and its rhythm.”

Adar, by contrast, represents the next generation of Nir Oz. When Hamas began its attack, he joined the local defense team, telling his wife and children to remain in their safe room. He was killed in combat as terrorists stormed the kibbutz — a final act of defiance that saved lives.

“He fought to the last bullet,” a Nir Oz security volunteer said. “Tamir didn’t run. He stood his ground.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)