The family of Nirel Zini, a Givati Brigade officer whose head was severed on October 7, found several teeth in the Young Generation neighborhood of Kfar Aza, ynet reported. The kibbutz’s security coordinator was called to the scene and after an additional search, a total of nine teeth and several other bones believed to be human remains were found. The teeth and bones were sent to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for examination to determine whether they belong to Nirel.
On June 3, human remains were found in the same neighborhood and were also sent to the forensic institute for identification. A fragment of a skull was found in the kibbutz, and officials examined whether it belonged to Nirel. His brother Uri discovered the remains at the time. The forensic institute later determined that the bones found belonged to a terrorist.
Six days after October 7, Amir and Osnat Zini were informed that their son Nirel had been murdered along with his partner, Niv Raviv, in Kfar Aza. After the funeral, the parents suffered another devastating blow when they discovered that Nirel had been beheaded and that his head had not been recovered. Since then, they have been fighting to bring their son to a complete burial but have found themselves alone, with the authorities responsible for assisting them passing responsibility from one to another.
“At the burial, we didn’t know. Maybe there were feelings,” Amir said in an interview on ynet’s studio. “They made me feel as though he had burned. I didn’t know that part of him had been taken, abducted — part of the person and the part that is the entire essence of a human being.”
Nirel Zini
(Photo: Courtesy of the family)
Osnat continued: “You feel as though he was murdered again. But this time, in my view, it wasn’t by evildoers and terrorists you can point a finger at. It feels like a kind of betrayal. I know there was tremendous chaos, I can understand that, I’m trying to understand.”
The parents have refused to give up, but no authorized body has helped them locate the remains that would allow them to bring closure. “We feel alone. Suddenly, the fight has become ours,” Osnat said. “There are good people and private initiatives that have stepped up to help with our pain — which is not private, it is completely national — and are simply trying to help. But we did approach many different bodies, from the top down, and each one shifted the responsibility to someone else.”
Amir went on to describe how the family has continued searching for nearly three years and expressed frustration over being left alone. “We started searching around the house and expanded in order to rule out locations. We cannot go toward Gaza. The system did not identify this as a mission and did not include it as a mission. I want to emphasize: there are hostages who were defined as hostages, and this is what was returned. It is difficult for me to say this sentence, but we will not allow there to be a difference between one head and another, period. Nirel’s head, of someone who gave his life for the country, will not be abandoned. The terrorists took his head to boast about it.”
“I’m not getting into politics right now,” Osnat continued. “But in every election I voted for Benjamin Netanyahu and I am asking him to choose two minutes of his day. I want to come to him and tell him, face to face, I need his help. I want him to simply ask whoever needs to do this work to do it. Whenever he tells me to come, I will come, and I want to tell him this, truly, as a mother to a father, and say to him: ‘Please help me, help us, help our family.’ This child gave his soul to the army, gave to his people, to this country. I am truly asking for your help. We cannot do this alone. Anyone who can help us, we beg you, please help us with this.”