Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday morning visited Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital, meeting with newly-released hostage Bar Kupershtein, who served in the IDF’s Nahal Brigade.
Accompanying Katz on the visit was Personnel Directorate chief Major General Dado Bar Kalifa.
Kupershtein told Katz about his time in Hamas captivity, and Katz thanked him for his heroic actions on the morning of the October 7 massacre, when he helped attendees at the Nova music festival and provided some of them with initial medical treatment, until he himself was kidnapped by Hamas.
During the visit, Kupershtein presented Katz with a bracelet bearing the words, “Always in the hands of the Creator of the World.”
Concluding the visit, Katz stressed his commitment to bringing the bodies of deceased hostages to Israel for burial, noting that it is of top priority, alongside disarming Hamas and Gaza.