Esther Buchshtav, the mother of murdered hostage Yagev Buchshtav told the Knesset on Monday that the autopsy report confirmed he was executed when the IDF neared the tunnel he was held in.
During a Knesset committee meeting, Esther stated: “Military pressure doesn’t bring captives back – it kills them.”
“My son was kidnapped alive. He was supposed to return alive, but he came back dead, murdered,” Esther Buchshtav said. “Yesterday, we received the autopsy report. Imagine what a family goes through receiving such a report. The report contains the details of the execution. He was executed. The army got close to the tunnel area, and they were executed.”
“This is what happens with military pressure. It doesn’t bring captives home alive – it kills them,” she added. “I don’t blame the army; this is the government’s policy. The army follows orders. We see this repeating itself in operation after operation. Yagev’s story is from February. It took time to retrieve them, but they were executed.”
On July 22, the IDF informed the families of Yagev Buchshtav, 35, and Alex Dancyg, 76, that they had been killed months earlier in Gaza and that Hamas was holding their bodies. According to the initial report, they died in Khan Younis during an IDF operation, and the circumstances of their deaths remain under investigation. Hamas had announced Yagev’s death on March 23 and Danzig’s on March 9.
Yagev Buchshtav was kidnapped on the morning of October 7 from Kibbutz Nirim, along with his wife Rimon, 36, who was released in late November after 53 days in captivity as part of the first hostage exchange deal. Yagev’s parents, who lived near the couple, lost contact with them in the morning hours of October 7 while also hiding in their safe room. Several hours later, Yagev’s father, accompanied by IDF forces, entered the couple’s home and found it empty, with bullet casings on the floor. Their five dogs and four cats were also missing.