“They snatched you from me - they murdered you - they kidnapped me and stole my identity and murdered my soul and heart.”
Michel Iluz described his journey to Israel’s forensic institute to identify his son’s body.
“They removed the white sheet, and the first thing I saw was that smile of yours, that optimism, that serenity and nobility that so characterised you.”
“I touched you, tried to smell you, caressed every bone in your body,” he said.
“Rest now, my sweet one, rest after a journey of two years through worlds unknown to us. I love you, my Guyshuk, my beloved firstborn son.”
Guy Iluz was the first of the four hostages handed over by Hamas on Tuesday to be buried.
Of the 251 hostages seized by Hamas and allied Palestinian factions on October 7, 2023, the last 20 surviving captives returned home on Monday under a ceasefire agreement brokered by United States President Donald Trump.
So far, Hamas has handed back the remains of seven of 28 known deceased hostages -- along with an eighth corpse which Israel says is not of a former hostage.
‘Sorry I couldn’t save you’
Iluz, who was 26 at the time of the attack, had been attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel when Hamas-led militants launched their assault which killed more than 370 revellers, according to Israeli figures.
He reportedly tried to flee the site in a vehicle and later hid in a tree, from where he made his last contact with his parents before being captured and taken to the Gaza Strip.
The military said Iluz was injured and abducted alive by militants but later died of his injuries due to lack of medical treatment while in captivity.
His death in captivity was announced in December 2023.
One of the mourners at his funeral, Maya Regev, said she had been transported with Iluz to a Gaza hospital on October 7.
According to her account, Iluz was abducted while unconscious and remained lying alone, tied to his bed for a week.
Before the funeral, dozens of people silently accompanied his coffin in a procession that began at the Rishon Lezion morgue in central Israel.
“I’m sorry, sorry, sorry I could not save you!” said Amira, a woman in her 60s who was not a relative but a well-wisher, who kept her hands clutched together as she walked behind the casket covered with an Israeli flag.
“I came to express my sadness,” she said. “It’s very important for the family to have a grave to cry, talk, and grieve their son.”
Several people in the procession said they were happy hostages were finally being returned, despite the sadness of having to attend funerals.
“This is our life, crying and being happy,” said Viki Lavi, who told AFP she had come to support Iluz’s father Michel, who “continued to support the families of living hostages” even when he knew his son was dead.
– Agence France-Presse
