Final missing Israeli victim declared dead

The last person listed as missing from the Hamas attack on Israel 10 months ago has been identified as killed, Israeli authorities say.

Bilha Yinon, 75, was murdered along with her husband, Yaakov, at their home in Netiv Haasara, when hundreds of gunmen from Gaza attacked communities in southern Israel on 7 October.

The Yinons’ home was burnt to the ground, and while Yaakov’s remains were found, there was no trace of Bilha, although she was known to have been with him at the time.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had now determined “after complex testing” of evidence in the area of the house that Bilha was killed.

Previously even fingertip searches in the ash and debris had failed to find as much as a trace of Bilha’s DNA.

The couple’s children had long accepted their mother was murdered on the day of the attack, but her death has only now been officially declared “based on a combination of findings”, the IDF said.

Bilha and Yaakov were together in their house, on the edge of the border with Gaza, when it was attacked on the morning of the invasion.

One of the couple’s daughters, Maayan, said her father WhatsApped at the time to say he and Bilha were in a safe room and could hear shooting and rockets.

“The house got a direct hit and was on fire within minutes,” Maayan told Israeli TV in February.

Virtually the whole structure was reduced to ash.

Writing on X, Maoz Yinon a son of the couple, said his parents did not die in vain.

“They did not die for this war. They died for peace.

“I have no doubt in my heart that [Bilha Yinon] would be so proud of the journey my family are on – with Israeli and Palestinian partners – to create a path to peace, through hope and reconciliation,” he said.

Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 people in the unprecedented attack, and took 251 others back to Gaza as hostages. The attack triggered a massive Israeli military offensive on Gaza and the ongoing war.

More than 39,600 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli campaign, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.