Crowds lined the streets of Tel Aviv, accompanying slain hostage Tsachi Idan on his final journey as the funeral procession departed from Bloomfield Stadium towards Kibbutz Einat, where the funeral took place on Friday.
Idan was one of four slain hostages returned to Israel late Wednesday night, completing the list of 33 hostages slated for return in phase one of the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
The funeral, attended only by his family and loved ones, was closed to the media.
Udi Idan, Tsachi’s younger brother, delivered a eulogy at the funeral, expressing everything his brother meant to him and the realities of the loss.
“Tsachi, today, with great sorrow and a heavy heart, we say goodbye to you, and our hearts still cannot comprehend the nightmare you experienced,” Udi said, before speaking of all the support and memories provided by his brother.
“You always looked after me. My first memory with you is of you carrying me on your bicycle on the way to kindergarten, and inevitably, I got my leg caught in the wheel and broke it,” he recalled, describing his brother as “a principled and modest man, a caring family man and an exemplary father.”
Among the descriptions of enjoying beer and coffee with his brother before he was taken captive, Udi spoke of the “unbearable” final 16 months of Tsachi’s life.
“You didn’t deserve to witness [your daughter] Maayan’s murder, you didn’t deserve to be held captive by Hamas monsters, and you didn’t deserve the uncertainty about the fate of [your wife] Gali, [and your daughters] Shachar and Yael – something that was probably unbearable for you and made your captivity so much harder,” Udi asserted.
“Although I’ve been missing you for over 16 months, I still can’t grasp that we’re saying goodbye to you today. Along with the many longings, I also feel a lot of anger mixed with frustration. As far as I’m concerned, we lost the war already on October 7,” he said.
“You managed to survive captivity until after the first deal, the one in which you weren’t released. The fact that we received you as a casualty and that we’re saying goodbye to you today is a failure. You are proof that military pressure does not serve the most important goal of returning the hostages but kills them. Only a comprehensive deal at an early stage would have brought you back to us alive.”
Udi also condemned Israeli leadership for failing to return his brother and all the hostages alive. “I wish our country’s leadership was worthy of our people, worthy of people like you,” Udi concluded. “Rest in peace, my dear brother. We will continue to remember you, mention you, and love you always.”
Public memorial ceremony
Earlier, hundreds gathered at the public memorial ceremony at Bloomfield Stadium, organized by supporters of the Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer club, of which Idan was an avid supporter.
“I part from my eldest brother and ask for his forgiveness that he returned in a coffin,” Idan’s sister, Noam Idan Ben Ezra, said during the ceremony.
נעם עידן בן עזרא, אחותו של צחי עידן, לעיני מאות בבלומפילד: "נפרדת מאחי הבכור ומבקשת ממנו סליחה שחזר בארון ולא על הרגליים" pic.twitter.com/FpkbTKfJTI
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) February 28, 2025
Prior to the ceremony, Idan's sister said, "My brother is a true hero; he held out and was one step away from being released in November 2023."
“Tsachi was held hostage twice: the first time when he was kidnapped from his home and the second time when the deal exploded.”
October 7
On October 7, Idan, 50, was kidnapped from his home in Nahal Oz. He saw terrorists murdering his 18-year-old daughter Maayan.
Hamas terrorists posted a live broadcast on Facebook of him, his wife Gali, and their 11-year-old Yael and 9-year-old Shahar, who were asking what happened to their sister. Their other daughter, 15-year-old Sharon, was not at home.
Idan was supposed to be released in the previous hostage-ceasefire deal in November 2023. Since then, his family reported receiving several signs of life.