Sister of Slain Hostage Says He Was Murdered by Captor While Fleeing from IDF

ISRAEL (VINnews) — The sister of murdered hostage Itay Svirsky HY”D was featured in an interview with Army Radio, discussing the tragic details of her brother’s death.

Merav Svirsky expressed anger and criticism at the Israeli government.

“He was shot by Hamas apparently out of their pressure due to a nearby strike — the military pressure is endangering the hostages,” she said.

“There was shelling by the army not far from the place where Itay was, and a few moments later his captor shot him, while trying to escape,” added Merav. “The fighting is killing the hostages. We are being lied to.”

Merav recounted how her brother was taken from their mother’s home in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 after he was shot in the arm. Their parents were both tragically killed that day.

Itay was one of three hostages shown in a Hamas video released last Sunday, alive and speaking. On Monday, Hamas stated that he had been killed in captivity, and Israeli forces tragically confirmed his death on Tuesday.

Merav received word in early December that her brother was alive, and called it “a small moment of celebration and happiness that quickly turned into extreme fear.”

Last week Hamas released two propaganda videos that included Itay. In the first, he and fellow captives Noa Argamani and Yossi Sharabi identify themselves and ask the Israeli government to bring them home.

A day later, a second video showed what Hamas claimed were the dead bodies of Itai Svirsky and Yossi Sharabi, with Noa reporting that they were killed in an IDF strike.

The Israeli military called the claim a “Hamas lie,” however it did notify the families several days earlier that they feared for the two men’s lives.

In the interview, Merav said: “We received a sign of life from Itay 50 days ago, more or less, from hostages who came back. He was alive, he was strong. After 99 days of a nightmare – he was shot…We have said time and time again that the goals of the fighting, as they are presented, conflict with one another. The elimination of Hamas and the return of the hostages do not go hand in hand.”

She added, “We said that the fighting endangers them and that the fighting kills them. And in Itay’s case, there was shelling by the army not far away, not in the place where Itay was, and a few moments later Itay’s captor, or whoever was with him, shot him, while trying to escape. An unmistakable proximity of time and an unmistakable proximity to the location of the shelling.”.

“…It is word-for-word what I said over and over again could happen. So no one can say exactly, but yes there was shelling not far away, he died from being shot by Hamas, from a shot by his captor who shot him apparently while fleeing, I don’t know exactly why, but that’s exactly what we warned would happen. Go figure out the reason, they just shot him. For 99 days he survived there in a horrible nightmare and then they just shot him,” said the sister.

She continued, “As far as I’m concerned, we’re being lied to right now. They are giving up on [the hostages] and we are being lied to right now.”

(Please note: much of the above quotations were translated by Arutz Sheva.)