Hostage Uriel Baruch murdered by Hamas, his body held in Gaza, his family reveals
Tikva Forum says family informed by IDF of fate of 35-year-old father of two, who was abducted from Supernova festival on October 7; relatives remember ‘happy and loved man’.
(THE TIMES OF ISRAEL) The Tikva Forum for Families of Hostages announced on Tuesday the death in Gaza of Uriel Baruch, 35, who was taken captive from the Supernova music festival on October 7.
The organization said Baruch’s family had been informed by the military that he was killed in captivity, and his body is being held hostage in Gaza.
He is survived by his wife Rachel, and their two sons. The family lives in the Giv’on settlement just outside Jerusalem.
“Uriel was a happy and loved man, he was loved by everyone around him,” his family said in a statement released via the Tikva Forum, an alternate group to the main umbrella Hostages Families Forum.
The news brings the number of confirmed deaths of hostages still being held in Gaza to 34, with another 96 held captive whose fates are unknown.
“Uriel Baruch, of blessed memory, was a joyful person who loved life. He worked in construction and loved techno music. Uriel was always surrounded by friends, most of whom called him by the affectionate nickname ‘Badalu,’” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
“Enough. We are heartbroken and can’t take the pain anymore. We want them back,” the statement read.
Baruch attended the Supernova rave with his friend, Michel Yoav, who was killed along with some 360 people at and near the party site by Hamas terrorists. He was last seen by his family in a video on social media showing Baruch’s car with his friend dead inside the car and Baruch on the ground, as they were trying to make their way home.
The family searched every hospital around the country, hoping that he was perhaps lying unidentified in one of them, and were eventually informed that he had been taken captive.
The families of the remaining hostages, as well as many of those who were freed, have demanded for months that the government reach a deal for their release, amid growing despair and the mounting death toll of those being held.
It is believed that 130 hostages, both alive and dead, abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza. During a weeklong truce in late November, 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity, and four hostages were released prior to that. Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 11 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.
One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and her fate is still unknown.
Hamas has also been holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
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