Murder of hostage Lior Rudaif announced following release of recent video footage

Prof. Ofer Marin, the director of Shaare Zedek Hospital and a member of the committee examining the status of the hostages, revealed on Wednesday morning that the announcement of hostage Lior Rudaif's murder was based on new film footage received only last weekend.

"These are completely new materials. Quite a few pieces of film footage this week – footage that had not been there before. Hamas operatives were very busy documenting – they filmed themselves with GoPro and other cameras," Marin revealed in an interview on the Kalman Liberman show.

"There are security cameras inside Gaza, and as the IDF advanced, they obtained material from various places or people, film footage. The committee unfortunately determined the death of more than 30 people, all thanks to, among other things, visual evidence. We receive new materials all the time," he added.

This case joins another case from last Thursday regarding the hostage, Dror Or. "There are people about whom there has been no information since the start of the war, leaving entire families in absolute uncertainty. In the past week, military intelligence has managed to obtain various materials, including filmed footage. The committee will not determine death without having reliable filmed materials," Marin stated

Regarding the examination committee, Marin said: "It was established about a week after the war began with the understanding that we were not receiving any information from Hamas about who was kidnapped and what condition they were in. We received reports from people – and saw footage from security cameras in communities – that some of the hostages had been dragged as corpses, and this was clear at an early stage. It took time for the nation to realize the extent (of what had happened) – that out of 240 people, some were kidnapped as bodies and not among the living."

"We are committed on a moral and emotional level to share with the families any information available, and when the committee meets, it is an hours-long session with the material evidence. We sit and analyze and go over it again and again – we convey the findings and try to be accurate because the committee's goal is to dispel doubts. As soon as we can reach unequivocal conclusions, we communicate them

Members of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak were informed last night of the murder of the 61-year-old hostage Lior Rudaif.

Rudaif, a member of the kibbutz, was an ambulance driver. He disappeared without a trace on Oct. 7 and, since then, has been defined as "allegedly abducted." His body is being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. There are 132 Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity, 38 of whom are no longer alive.

Written by KAN 11 correspondents Kalman Libeskind Liebeskind and Roy Sharon.