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The body of a 28-year-old festivalgoer, who was abducted and held hostage by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 rave massacre, was recovered in the Gaza Strip Thursday — weeks after his friend Mia Schem was freed in a hostage swap.
Elia Toledano, who had dual French-Israeli citizenship, attended the Nova music festival in the southern Israeli desert when he was taken, according to the Times of Israel.
Israeli Forces said Toledano’s body was found while conducting operations inside Gaza and will be returned to Israel, where an “identification procedure” was carried out by medical officials, military rabbis, and forensic experts.
“The IDF sends the family its heartfelt condolences,” the IDF wrote in a post on X.
In the wake of the tragic finding, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the nation is in “immense sorrow” over the news of Toledano’s death.
“We share the pain of his family and loved ones. The release of all hostages is our priority,” Colonna said on X.
Toledano was taken hostage along with Schem during the festival, the outlet added.
The two friends were last seen in the early hours of Oct. 7 before the mayhem ensued and were among the 36 people taken hostage at the music festival.
Schem, a 21-year-old Israeli-French tattoo artist, was seen in a chilling Hamas-released video receiving treatment from a veterinarian for a wound on her right arm soon after the war broke out.
She was freed during the seven-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Nov. 30 after spending nearly 50 days in captivity.
Upon her return from captivity, she has since got a tattoo on her left forearm that reads “We will dance again” above “7.10.23” to remember the festival’s victims.
“I will never forget October 7, 2023,” Schem wrote in the post last week. “The pain and the fear, the difficult sights, the friends who won’t come back, and those we must bring back. But we will win, we will dance!”
Stay on top of news out of the Israel-Hamas war and the global surge in antisemitism with The Post’s Israel War Update, delivered right to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
At least 260 people were mercilessly killed during the Supernova festival massacre, while Hama terrorists killed at least 1,200 people during the Saturday morning attack on Israel in October.
The temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that allowed for Schem’s release ended earlier this month after the Jewish nation blamed the terror organizations for violating the truce by launching rockets toward Israeli territory before the agreement expired.
Along with Toledano, the Israeli military has recovered the bodies of two soldiers also abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7.
“The bodies of hostages CPL Nik Beizer, 19, and SGT Ron Sherman, 19, who were abducted by Hamas on October 7th, have been recovered from Gaza during operational activity and returned to Israeli territory,” the IDF wrote in a post on Friday.
The IDF has stayed firm on its commitment to rescuing all remaining hostages still trapped in Gaza.
More than 130 hostages remain in Gaza.
“Our national mission is to locate the hostages and return all of them home,” the branched wrote Thursday. “We are working together with security agencies, and with all intelligence and operational means in order to return all of the hostages home.”
with Post wires
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Abhinav Thawait is a globe-trotting correspondent with a passion for international affairs. With a background in international relations, he offers a global perspective on the most pressing issues around the world. Abhinav’s curiosity takes his to the far corners of the earth, where he seeks to share untold stories and diverse viewpoints.
