Roni Eshel
Roni EshelIDF Spokesperson

The body of Sergeant Roni Eshel, an IDF observer who has been missing since the Hamas massacre of October 7, has been identified, it was cleared for publication today, 34 days after the massacre.

Roni Eshel, 19, from Tzur Yitzhak, served as an observation soldier in the Combat Intelligence Collection Corps’s 414th unit in Nahal Oz.

Eshel's parents had been searching for her for over a month since the massacre.

In an interview, her father stated that he hoped she would be found and rescued just as fellow IDF observer Ori Megidish was rescued from Hamas captive by IDF forces in Gaza at the end of October.

"It gave me optimism and gave me the extra breathing space I was missing," he stated at the time. "It made me think that maybe we too will hear this good news like Ori's family."

The Eshel family has now received confirmation that Roni was killed during the massacre on October 7.