Murdered Hamas hostage Itzik Elgert tortured to death, autopsy reveals

The autopsy revealed that Itzik’s body arrived with extensive trauma, including multiple broken ribs, a fractured nose, and damaged toes – injuries suggesting brutal and sustained physical abuse

Itzik Elgert, an Israeli hostage whose body was returned in February in the framework of a hostage deal with Hamas, was tortured to death during interrogation in captivity, his brother Danny Elgert revealed in a post on X/Twitter on Thursday.

“Today, after my brother’s autopsy, the facts are clear: Itzik did not die of a heart attack. He was tortured to death,” his brother wrote.

According to Danny, the autopsy found that Elgert’s injuries, including multiple broken ribs, a fractured nose, and broken toes, were sustained by brutal physical abuse.

“He was murdered with extreme cruelty,” Danny added.

Autopsy showed severity of trauma

Although the forensic institute was unable to declare Elgert’s precise cause of death legally, its findings concluded that the severity and nature of the fractures were consistent with the sort of trauma that causes death if inflicted on a living body.

Elgert’s brother slammed the government’s handling of the hostage situation, implicitly blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Cause of death – Mr. Neglect,” he wrote.

Roughly six weeks earlier, Danny had described the circumstances surrounding his brother’s disappearance. He said that Hamas interrogators believed Elgert was a pilot, in part due to an eagle tattoo on his arm, and took him away for questioning. He never returned.

“My brother was with hostage Edan Alexander. The terrorists suspected that he was a pilot because of his tattoo. They then took him away, and he never came back,” Danny recalled. “Idan asked where he was, and they told him: ‘He’s gone.’”

“Itzik is dead, murdered, because they thought he was a pilot,” Elgert’s brother said.

Elgert was kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7 massacre. His body was returned to Israel during the final phase of the first stage of the hostage deal earlier this year.

He was buried near his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Hundreds gathered for the funeral to pay their last respects.