• Elijah Toledano, 28, was attending the Supernova music festival in Israel on October 7 when Hamas terrorists kidnapped him and took him to Gaza.
• The IDF has now announced that it has found Toledano’s body in Gaza and will return him to Israel
• Toledano’s friend, Mia Shim, a 21-year-old French-Israeli tattoo artist, spent 54 days in Hamas captivity and was released on November 30.

The Israeli army announced in the early hours of Friday morning that it had found the body of a hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, and that it would return him to Israel.

Elijah Toledano, 28, was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival on October 7 and taken across the border with his girlfriend Mia Shim, a 21-year-old French-Israeli tattoo artist.

Skeem spent 54 days in captivity, and Hamas forced her to appear in a propaganda video demanding her release and saying she was receiving good treatment. She was released on November 30.

The IDF announced Toledano’s death.

“The body of 28-year-old Elijah Toledano, who was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, was recovered by our special forces in an operation in Gaza and returned to Israel,” they wrote on X.

“The IDF sends its heartfelt condolences to the family.

He added: “Our national mission is to locate the hostages and return them all to their homeland.” We are working with the security services and all intelligence and operational means to return all the hostages to their homes.

The Israeli army did not say how or when he died.

Toledano’s body is the sixth to be recovered by the Israeli army: he is the twentieth hostage whose death the Israeli army confirms in Gaza.

He was one of 36 people taken hostage at the music festival. Another 200 were taken from kibbutzim in the surrounding area.

Of the 240 who were captured, 105 were released during a truce from November 24 to December 1.

Four hostages were released before the temporary truce and hostage release in late November, and forces rescued one of them.

It is believed that 134 hostages remain in Gaza – not all of them alive.

Toledano was last seen in the early hours of October 7 with his friend Shim at the Supernova Festival.

Shem was shot in the arm during the attack, and after her release, her aunt said she underwent surgery while in captivity by a Palestinian veterinarian.

Hamas published a video in the first days of the war showing her recovering from surgery.

“Hello, I am Mia Shim, I am 21 years old from Shoham. I am currently in Gaza,” she said in the video, which many media outlets refused to broadcast.

I sustained serious injuries to my hand. I had surgery on my arm in the hospital for 3 hours. They take care of me, give me medicine, and everything is fine.”

The Forum for Hostages and Missing Families describes Shim as a “young woman with an old soul” who studied tattooing and worked in a tattoo parlor before her kidnapping.