An Israeli woman in her mid-to-late 70s, previously thought to have been killed, is alive and among 13 hostages freed Friday, Israeli authorities said.
Hanna Katzir was abducted from her home in the Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, when her husband, Rami, was killed. Her name, alongside several others from her kibbutz, was released by the Israeli government in a list of hostages freed.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Gaza militant group that sometimes acts in coordination with Hamas, claimed in its Telegram channel on Tuesday that Katzir was dead.
“We announce the death of the settler, Hanna Katzir, whom we had previously expressed our willingness to release — for humanitarian reasons — but the enemy’s procrastination led to the loss of her life,” said a post in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Telegram channel.