Thousands of mourners gathered in Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak near the Gaza border on Wednesday to attend the funeral of Tal Haimi, whose body was returned to Israel days prior, after it was held by Hamas in Gaza for over two years.
Haimi, 41, who was the head of Nir Yitzhak’s civil defense squad, was killed while defending his community on October 7, 2023, and his body was abducted to the Gaza Strip.
He and other members of the rapid response team battled the invading terrorists at the entrance to the kibbutz until he was shot dead. In December 2023, Tal’s family was informed based on intelligence that he had been killed on October 7 and his body was taken hostage.
Tal is survived by his wife, Ela, and their four children: Nir, Einav, Udi and Lotan. Lotan was born in May 2024, seven months after Tal was killed.
Haimi was buried in the kibbutz by his family, who returned to live in the community several months ago.
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Ela said in her eulogy that she had planned this day “so many times, waited for it for so long.”
Tal Haimi (Courtesy)
When she was notified by the IDF that her husband had been killed, she held a symbolic funeral and sat shiva, burying his bloodied helmet in order to offer her young children a sense of closure.
“I said goodbye to you this afternoon; you came back to us clothed and whole,” Haimi said. “I touched every part of you, and you’d be glad to know that even the shirt of Support Company 9255 was with you — and survived.”
Haimi said she told her husband’s body what they’ve been through over the last two years, reviewing each of their children.
“There’s one child you didn’t get to meet, but he already knows you well,” she said, referring to their youngest, Lotan. “I played you a recording of him saying ‘Abba’ and giggling — I hope you could hear it.”
“In no scenario did I imagine giving birth to and raising a baby without you — but then I look at him, and everything becomes a little more possible,” she said.
Ela Haimi, widow of Tal Haimi, whose body was returned from Gaza, eulogizes her husband at his Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak burial on October 22, 2025 (Credit: Dana Reany/Hostages Forum)
“Tal, I was proud to be your wife,” said Haimi. “I am proud to be your widow. Thank you for 22 shared years.”
“You have returned to us — to our family, both personal and close-knit, and to our kibbutz family,” said Zohar Haimi, Tal’s father. “Not as we wished — not to embrace you alive, so that you could be a father to a daughter and three sons, a partner to the one who for two years has been running what feels like an orphanage, a brother to your sister Or, and for me — the son who rose up and, with his body, protected us. An uncle to all your nieces and nephews, and a friend to all your friends — because that’s who you were: a man of family and of people.”
Tal’s father also spoke about Lior Rudaeff, a fellow member of the Nir Yitzhak emergency squad who was killed on October 7 in battle, his body still held hostage in Gaza and the wait for him and the other remaining 12 hostages’ bodies.
Zohar Haimi, far right, father of Tal Haimi, whose body was returned from Gaza, at his Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak burial on October 22, 2025 (Dana Reany/Hostages Forum)
Haimi’s sister, Or Haimi, eulogized her only sibling, remembering their shared language, their dreams, and her brother’s calm strength and backing.
“I don’t want a funeral, and I don’t want to say goodbye,” said Haimi’s sister, adding that she wants her brother there for her sister-in-law and their kids, to be “the all-powerful uncle” to her kids, to plan their father’s birthdays, to meet at the kibbutz playgrounds at the end of the school day.
“You have to meet Lotan,” she said, “how much light he brings into dark days, and how much strength there is in each of the children.”
IDF Chief Rabbi Brig. Gen. Eyal Krim (left) and other troops salute over the casket containing the body of Tal Haimi, after it was returned to Israel by Hamas on October 20, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
Hamas returned Haimi’s body on Monday, as part of the group’s obligations under the current ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.
As of Wednesday, the bodies of 13 hostages are still being held in Gaza. At the start of the ceasefire on October 10, the bodies of 28 deceased hostages were held inside the Gaza Strip.
In accordance with the ceasefire deal, Hamas released the last 20 living hostages last Monday, within 72 hours of Israel’s withdrawal to the Yellow Line. Hamas has also returned the remains of 15 slain hostages during the ceasefire.
Israel has accused Hamas of withholding at least some of the bodies deliberately, while the terror group insists that it has been unable to locate them due to the level of destruction in Gaza.
The remaining deceased hostages include Hadar Goldin, a soldier killed fighting in the 2014 Gaza war — the last remaining captive from before the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.
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