The return of the bodies of Judi Weinstein Haggai and her husband Gad Haggai has brought relief to their grieving family.Marton Monus/Reuters
The daughter of an Israeli-Canadian woman killed alongside her husband during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip says the recovery of their bodies has finally brought certainty to their grieving family.
On Thursday, Iris Weinstein Haggai posted on social media to celebrate the memory of her parents and to thank the Israeli military, the FBI and both the Israeli and United States governments for supporting her and other families trying to recover the hostages held by Hamas after that initial raid.
The Israeli military said it recovered the remains of Judi Weinstein Haggai and her husband, Gadi Haggai, during a special operation overnight into Thursday from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
“My beautiful parents have been freed,“ their daughter, Iris, stated.
Meanwhile, at least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis overnight, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. It was not immediately clear if the strikes were related to the recovery mission.
Judi Weinstein Haggai grew up in Toronto before meeting American chef and jazz musician Gadi Haggai, with whom she raised four children on Kibbutz Nir Oz, a tightknit southern Israeli community on the border with Gaza. There, she taught English to children with special needs as well as meditation techniques to children and teenagers.
Their last trip to Canada was in the summer of 2023, according to their daughter. The couple both held American and Israeli citizenship, and Ms. Weinstein Haggai also had Canadian citizenship.
Opinion: My parents were killed on Oct. 7. I need to say goodbye
They were taking an early morning walk near their home on the morning of Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed across the border and rampaged through several army bases and farming communities.
Ms. Weinstein Haggai, 70, was able to call emergency services and let them know that both she and her 72-year-old husband had been shot, and to send a message to her family.
The Israeli military said they were killed in the Oct. 7 attack and their bodies taken into Gaza. A month later, Kibbutz Nir Oz announced their deaths.
A year ago, Iris Weinstein Haggai penned an op-ed for The Globe and Mail chronicling her family’s fight to have their parents’ bodies released by Hamas, including sharing her story with then-prime minister Justin Trudeau and then-minister of foreign affairs Mélanie Joly.
“The only thing I want after the hell I’ve been through is for the return of both of my parents’ bodies for a respectful burial, and the chance to say a real goodbye,” she wrote.
Taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, the couple's bodies were held for nearly 608 days.Courtesy of Bring Them Home Now/Reuters
On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney heralded the return of their remains and committed to working with Canada’s allies to promote an end to the Israeli-Hamas war, which includes calling for Hamas to disarm and release all its remaining hostages immediately while committing to having no role in any future Palestinian state.
“Ms. Weinstein was a mother, grandmother, teacher and mentor, who dedicated her life to guiding others with empathy, charity and humanity,” his statement said. “As the family grieves the unimaginable loss of both Ms. Weinstein and her husband, Gadi Haggai, who was murdered in that same horrific attack, the return of their remains is a time to begin to heal and to rest.”
Deborah Lyons, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, said it is important that the family can now lay their loved ones to rest. But, in a post on social media, she called for the 56 remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip to be released by Hamas.
Ms. Lyons’ predecessor Irwin Cotler said the recovery of the couple’s remains underscores the need for the conditional and immediate release of all hostages still held in Gaza.
Mr. Cotler, a former minister of justice and attorney-general, and international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, said he visited their kibbutz last December and learned one in four people living there had been killed or taken hostage on Oct. 7.
“They won’t have complete closure until all the hostages are returned,” he said Thursday.
The UJA Federation of Greater Toronto said it mourned the tragic and senseless death of the couple and the fact their bodies were held hostage for nearly 608 days.
On Thursday, Gaza’s Health Ministry stated that three local reporters were killed and six people were wounded in a strike on the courtyard of the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City. It did not immediately identify the journalists or say which outlets they worked for.
The Israeli military said it struck an Islamic Jihad militant operating in the courtyard. The army says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it is embedded in populated areas.
With a report from the Associated Press