On the morning of October 7, 2023, as Hamas terrorists stormed into southern Israel, Ilan Weiss rushed to defend his kibbutz. Weiss, 56, was the deputy head of the emergency response team in Kibbutz Be’eri. When he learned that the kibbutz security chief had been killed at the gate in the first minutes of the attack, Weiss grabbed the keys to the armory and went to unlock it for the local alert squad. He never came back.
For three months, his family did not know his fate. In January 2024, they were told that Weiss had been murdered that same morning and his body taken into Gaza. His remains were recovered this week in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation.
While Weiss went to fight, terrorists broke into his home. His daughter Noga hid under a bed in the safe room. They kidnapped his wife, Shiri, as one of their daughters watched and reported the abduction in the family WhatsApp group. The attackers then set fire to the house. On the advice of her sister, Noga fled through a window but was also taken hostage. After 50 days in Gaza, both mother and daughter were released in the first hostage deal in November 2023.
At a rally in Tel Aviv earlier this month, Noga recalled her father’s final moments. “When they told him there might be terrorists inside the kibbutz, he didn’t hesitate for a second. He took the keys to the armory and left the house to defend us and the community. That was the last time I saw him,” she said.
“That morning, at 7:15, when he left the safe room, I asked him to take care of himself. He told my mom and me not to worry, that it would be over in a few minutes and he’d be back. Six hundred and eighty days have passed since then. It’s not over, and my father still hasn’t returned. When he does, it will only be to say goodbye forever, to be buried in the soil he loved.”
Weiss is survived by his wife and three daughters, Meital, Maayan and Noga. Members of Kibbutz Be’eri described him as “a modest and principled man, deeply involved in community life and highly respected for his actions. A devoted family man who cared for his loved ones, loved hosting, tending to his garden, drinking beer and riding his mountain bike on weekends with his brother-in-law, Gil Boim, who was also killed that day.”
The community added: “On October 7, when news came of the infiltration, Ilan did not hesitate for a moment. Despite the grave danger, he left his home to protect us, the members of Be’eri. We share the family’s heavy grief and hope they find some comfort in knowing that Ilan will be laid to rest in the soil of Be’eri, which he loved and for which he gave his life.”
The recovery of Weiss’s body was part of a complex military operation carried out by IDF Southern Command together with Military Intelligence, the Shin Bet security service and special forces, the army said Friday.
According to the IDF, the remains were located following a prolonged intelligence effort that included interrogations of captured terrorists. “The operation was made possible thanks to precise intelligence gathered by the Hostage Task Force, Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet,” the army said.
Identification was completed at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine with the assistance of the police, after which the Hostage Task Force notified Weiss’s family and the Be’eri community. “The IDF and Shin Bet share in the families’ grief and will continue to make every effort to bring all hostages home,” the statement said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the operation also retrieved remains believed to belong to another hostage, whose name has not yet been released. He said the findings are undergoing forensic examination, and the family of the fallen hostage has been informed.