Danny Elgarat said Thursday that his brother was found with multiple broken ribs, fractures in his toes and a broken nose, injuries he said were caused by external pressure on the chest and other violence.
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Danny Elgarat with a picture of his brother Itzik during a Knesset committee meeting
(Photo: Knesset Channel)
“Itzik did not die of a heart attack,” Elgarat said. “Itzik was murdered with extreme cruelty.”
Elgarat said the National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv could not legally determine the exact cause of death but confirmed the extent of the injuries could be fatal. He accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to protect victims of the Oct. 7 attack, calling the cause of death “Mr. Abandonment.”
Last week, five months after Itzik was buried in his home community of Kibbutz Nir Oz, Danny said he viewed footage of his brother recorded in Gaza before his death. He said Itzik appeared emaciated, frightened and confused, and pleaded in the video to return home to his family.
“I saw in his eyes that he knew he would probably never get out of there alive,” Elgarat said. “We waited so long to see him alive, but not after he was dead.”
Itzik Elgarat was identified on Feb. 27, 510 days after he was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip. His coffin was returned to Israel overnight as part of a hostage deal. Three other hostages — Ohad Yahalomi, Shlomo Mansour and Tzachi Idan — were also identified that day.
