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Hostage Lior Rudaeff was murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 and his body is currently being held in Gaza, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced on Tuesday evening.
Rudaeff was an active member of the emergency preparedness team at Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. The statement about his death described him as "a generous man with a huge heart for all those around him. For 40 years, he volunteered as an ambulance driver in the Eshkol Regional Council, always volunteering first and lending a hand to all."
"He was Argentinean at heart, an avid cyclist, and an admirer of Shlomo Artzi. Lior was married to Yafa for 38 years, father to Noam, Nadav, Bar and Ben, and grandfather to Tomer, Dagan and Shai."
His widow, Yafa, expressed her longing in a Facebook post this morning: "Seven months, I want Lior at home! A complicated month, your father is about to celebrate his 89th birthday, Dagan is about to celebrate his 5th, and Shai is already two months old!
"The upcoming Independence Day, it's your holiday and Tal's. Tours, approvals, preparing the area and finally stunning fireworks, even though in recent years you thought it should stop for all the right reasons, and also because you were a bit tired," she wrote.
"We miss your energy, we miss the family gatherings, because nothing is the same without you. My beloved, hold on, we never lose hope for a moment, and will continue to fight until you return, we miss you."
Two months ago, Lior's son, Nadav Rudaeff, along with other relatives of hostages held in Gaza, requested a meeting with the War Cabinet. He justified the request by saying: "We are living in hell. We asked for continuous contact and it didn't happen. There is a government-funded campaign that causes families of the hostaged to receive humiliating treatment."
"All I want is for my father to come home. That all the hostages return and that those who are no longer alive be able to be buried in the country," he said.
In November, Nadav Rudaeff also had a notable meeting with billionaire Elon Musk, facilitated by President Isaac Herzog.