Tel Aviv, Feb 9 (IANS): An elderly Israeli citizen, who was believed to be kidnapped during the October 7 attack, died on that day itself and his body is being held by Hamas in Gaza, southern Israel village community Kibbutz Be'eri said.

The family of Manny Godard, 73, has been informed that he was murdered during Hamas October 7 attack on Israel and that his body is being held by terrorists in Gaza.

Immediately after the attack, there was no trace of Godard and family presumed that he was in the custody of Hamas. However after none of the hostages, who were released from Hamas custody during the weeklong ceasefire from November 24 to December 1, claimed to not have seen him during their custody period, there was skepticism in his family as well as community whether he was alive or not.

However, there was no formal announcement until now.

Godard's wife Ayelet called one of their children on October 7 screaming that her husband had been killed and that she was hiding in the bushes from the terrorists.

Ayelet's body was found and identified nearby two weeks later, but Godard's body was not recovered.

The couple is survived by their children, Mor, Gal, Bar and Goni, as well as six grandchildren and several siblings.

A eulogy posted on the kibbutz website on Thursday remembered Ayelet as a longtime educator, "a special teacher, one from days gone by, the kind who brought nature into the classroom and took the children outside," and who shaped many of the youths who grew up in the Kibbutz and nearby.

She was an "incredible mother and a revered grandmother," who also "believed with all her heart in the Kibbutz and its members, and was an active part of Kibbutz life".

Godard, the community said, had "a love of sports, the ocean and people". He was a professional soccer player in the 1970s before enlisting in the army and fighting in the Yom Kippur War.

In the Kibbutz, he worked in a successful printing house, a local store, as chief economist and a lifeguard.