Danny Elgarat, whose brother Itzik was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7th, revealed on Thursday that intelligence officers updated him that according to Hamas his brother is no longer alive.
"Yesterday I received three-quarters of the bad news. I met with our intelligence officers yesterday and according to Hamas, my brother is no longer alive," Elgarat told Channel 12.
He continued: "In all of the reports from Hamas, in all of the intelligence that comes, Itzik is not alive. He was abducted alive; the hostage Yelena (Trufanova) sat with him for an entire day and spoke with him, the doctor who tended to him sent us a precise report on the care he received. He got really good treatment there, they saved his hand."
He added: "We know that on January 1st he was moved from Khan Yunis to Rafah. We know that he was moving, that he was alive. When we said that time was running out and that we had to bring them back, people thought that we were just nervous and that we just speaking out of pain. We didn't speak out of pain."
Regarding reports that the deal to release the hostages is progressing, he stated: "There won't be any deal. The first deal didn't take down the government, this deal will take down the government. On the way here I heard (MK) Tzvi Succot (Religious Zionists) and others from the messianic cult in the government saying that if the matter depends on stopping the war, there won't be a deal. They think we need to annex part of the Gaza Strip and build settlements."
Elgarat added: "I have not given up on my brother and no one here has given up on their loved ones. Unfortunately, I am not in a position where I can take myself, go in, and take him out. There is a democracy, which supposedly means that there are people who need to decide our fates, and if the Prime Minister decides that this needs to be our fate, then he sweeps everyone up with him. We will be like him, a bereaved family. I will also lose my brother, like he did. He makes sure to remind us in every meeting that he's also from a bereaved family."