The Israeli military has recovered the body of a kindergarten teacher and mother of four who was kidnapped on Oct. 7 and died while under Hamas captivity, according to leaders in her kibbutz.
Officials for Kibbutz Nir Oz confirmed that the IDF retrieved the body of Maya Goren, 56, during a military rescue mission in Gaza on Wednesday, The Times of Israel reports.
“After nine months, she was brought home for burial,” the kibbutz said in a statement.
“The family has been informed in recent hours about the operation,” they added. “The community will continue its struggle to bring back all the hostages, the living to rehabilitation and the dead for burial.”
Goren was among the six hostages who were confirmed dead by the IDF in December, but the Israeli military has yet to release information regarding the circumstances of her death.
The 56-year-old was with her husband, Avner, on Oct. 7 when Hamas stormed Nir Oz, kidnapping the kindergarten teacher and murdering her spouse and dog.
Two of the couple’s kids, Bar, 23, and Dekel, 18, were with them at the time of the attack and survived.
Along with working as a teacher in the kibbutz, Goren also served as a nanny for infant Kfir Bibabs, the one-year-old redhead whose kidnapping has served as a symbol of Hamas’ brutality, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
News of Goren’s return home comes just two days after the IDF confirmed the death of fellow Nir Oz resident and Hamas hostage Alex Dancyg, 76.
Dancyg, the child of Holocaust survivors, had dedicated his life educating others on the horrors of the attempted genocide that killed more than six million Jews.
