Ella Haimi, the wife of Tal Haimi, a member of the Nir Yitzhak alert squad who was killed defending the community on October 7 and abducted to Gaza, spoke to the Ynet studio about her emotions after her husband’s body was finally returned home. Haimi will never know his fourth son, Lotan, who was born after his death.
“The relief is immense,” she said. “But precisely because I feel it now, I understand how important this is for the families of the 15 hostages who are still there. Last night at 11:30 p.m., I was ready to end the day and go to sleep, but Ram, the officer assigned to our family, said, ‘Not yet, Ella, not yet.’ I stayed up most of the night. When the kids woke up, I told them, and now we’re preparing for what comes next.”
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'Daddy came back, but not alive'; The late Tal Haimi
(Photo: Courtesy of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
“The past few days were very hard,” she continued. “The relief is huge, first of all because Tal is back, but also because the tension was unbearable for me and the kids. My heart is with the 15 families still waiting for their loved ones to return. These are truly difficult days.”
On the morning of October 7, Haimi joined the fight against dozens of Hamas terrorists attacking the gates of Nir Yitzhak. He and the rest of the alert squad fought heroically for hours. During the battle, Haimi was killed and taken to Gaza along with Lior Rudaeff, who remains in captivity. At first, the family believed Tal was alive, but two months later, they were informed that he had been abducted after falling in battle. Thousands attended a funeral held for him at the time. “We held a full funeral, said goodbye for real, and hoped that would bring closure. But it wasn’t enough. We buried an empty coffin,” Ella said in a past interview.
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The funeral held in December 2023: 'The children raised questions and doubts'
(Photo: Meir Even Haim)
When asked how the family decided to hold a funeral, she explained, “They based it on a helmet found at the scene. It was a huge shock. I can’t even describe it. I truly believed he was alive and would return. We arranged the funeral amid unbearable pain, and only afterward, after a short time, we realized our story wasn’t over. It was the kids who made me see it. They started asking questions, expressing doubts, and I understood we were facing something different.”
When she woke the children, Ella had to explain carefully. “There was one child I had to tell that Daddy came back, but not alive,” she said. “There are still open questions, which I believe will be answered in the coming days,” she added. “But we finally have certainty.”
Haimi emphasized how crucial it is to bring back the bodies of all the hostages held in Gaza. “Because I feel it now, I know how important this is for the 15 who remain. We don’t have time. There’s a window of opportunity and everyone supports this right now. Hamas returned four bodies on the first day of the deal and said, ‘That’s it, we can’t do more.’ But since then, more have come back. That means they can. With some effort and motivation, they can fulfill their part of the agreement. It’s their obligation.”
She also spoke about the special bond between her husband and Lior Rudaeff. “They fought shoulder to shoulder, literally. It went far beyond combat. They were 20 years apart, but they shared so much, and it was only natural they fought together that day. They could communicate just with a glance. The fact that Tal came back and Lior hasn’t doesn’t sit right with me. Lior must come home as soon as possible, and so must the others. Their families deserve this too. It’s not just me.”
According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Tal Haimi was a third-generation descendant of Nir Yitzhak’s founders and a fourth-generation resident of the kibbutz. He worked as a mechanical engineer and was an active member of the community’s alert squad. He loved taking his family on hikes and camping in nature, was passionate about tools and always knew how to fix any problem.
He is survived by his wife, Ella, and their four children, the youngest born after his death. Haimi was 41 years old.
With his identification, 15 fallen hostages remain in Gaza: Staff Sgt. Itay Chen, Lt. Hadar Goldin, Tamir Adar, Dror Or, Sahar Baruch, Sgt. Maj. Ran Gvili, Meni Godard, Sgt. Oz Daniel, Arie Zalmanowicz, Col. Asaf Hamami, Joshua Luito Mollel, Capt. Omer Neutra, Amiram Cooper, Lior Rudaeff and Sudthisak Rinthalak.