Israeli media outlets identify Aryeh Zalmanovich as the ‘Jewish friend’ whom former hostage Farhan al-Qadi witnessed dying in captivity last December.
By World Israel News Staff
The Israeli Jewish hostage who was abducted by Hamas terrorists from a kibbutz near the Gaza border on October 7th and who later died in captivity in the presence of a recently-freed Israeli Bedouin captive has been identified Thursday as Aryeh Zalmanovich.
The 86-year-old resident and founding member of Kibbutz Nir Oz died in captivity in December, two months after being taken hostage on October 7th.
Zalmanovich, the oldest captive taken hostage on October 7th, was survived by his two children and five grandchildren.
On Tuesday, IDF soldiers rescued 52-year-old Farhan al-Qadi, an Israeli Bedouin security guard at a kibbutz who was also captured by terrorists on October 7th.
Al-Qadi, who was rescued from a Rafah tunnel, said after his return to Israel that he had witnessed the death of a fellow Israeli captive in December, whom he referred to as his “Jewish friend.”
“A Jewish friend died next to him, after two months, in December 2023,” al-Qadi was quoted by Ata Abu-Madighem, the ex-mayor of al-Qadi’s hometown of Rahat, as saying after his rescue.
On Thursday, Zalmonovich’s family confirmed that he was the “Jewish friend” who died in captivity in al-Qadi’s presence last December.
For several weeks in the Gaza Strip after their abduction, al-Qadi was held captive alongside Zalmanovich in a hospital in southern Gaza, during which al-Qadi was operated on, without anesthetics, to remove a bullet fired during October 7th.
Five weeks after their stay together in the hospital, Zalmanovich died, al-Qadi said.
During their time together, al-Qadi recalled, Zalmanovich told al-Qadi about his family and the kibbutz he helped to establish.
“Father was in the hospital in the southern Gaza Strip with Farhan throughout the entire time of captivity, about 40 days,” Boaz Zalmanovich, Aryeh’s son, told KAN.
“A special bond was formed between them. Farhan was also wounded, but he took care of Dad and supported him. Dad was old and sick, did not receive proper medication and treatment – and was murdered in this way – after a period of physical and mental agony. They are not always shot.”
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