Elyakim Shlomo Libman, H’yd, who was presumed to have been abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7th, was pronounced dead after his remains were found in Israel, the IDF announced on Friday.

On October 7th, Libman, z’l, 23, was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival. After the attack, he spent hours at the site helping wounded victims. He was in an ambulance treating a victim when it took a direct hit from an anti-tank missile. His remains were unrecognizable and were mistakenly buried alongside one of the other 365 people murdered at the festival. Since his remains were never found, he was presumed to have been abducted but no forensic evidence of his abduction was ever discovered.

The IDF said that his remains were identified after a “complex investigation carried out by the IDF, police, Health Ministry and the Institute of Forensic Medicine.”

The process of identification took over a month and involved ZAKA Tel Aviv opening dozens of kevarim to determine if more than one victim was buried together.

Elyakim Shlomo, H”yd is the son of Eliyahu Libman, the former head of the Kiryat Arba-Chevron council, whose brother, Shneur Shlomo Libman, H”yd, was murdered in a terror attack in Yitzhar near 1998 at the age of 24.

Elyakim, H’yd, who was named after his uncle, was murdered at about the same age. In addition, the terrorists who murdered his uncle were released in the Shalit deal in 2011 and may have played a part in the October 7th attack.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)