The body of an Israeli hostage recovered from Gaza City was buried weeping family and friends, with her mother telling mourners she would never forgive what had befallen her daughter, a teenaged conscript soldier, Reuters reports.

Noa Marciano, 19, was at a military base near Gaza on Oct 7 when it was overrun by Hamas fighters. Many of her fellow soldiers were killed, but she herself was dragged alive into the nearby Palestinian enclave.

Hamas released a video earlier this week saying she had died in an Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military said they had found her body in a building adjacent to Gaza’s Shifa Hospital and returned the corpse to Israel for burial.

Marciano’s mother told mourners that she had spoken to her daughter during the Hamas attack, saying her first concern had been over the fate of soldiers who had only arrived at the base two days beforehand.

“Today we’re asking for your forgiveness … You protected us, but we failed to protect you,” her sobbing mother said, wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a photo of her smiling daughter in her high school graduation robes. “You are resting now, but we will not stop. We wont forget or forgive,” she said.

Mourners attend the funeral of kidnapped female soldier Noa Marciano, after her remains were recovered from Gaza, in the central city of Modiin on November 17. — AFP
Mourners attend the funeral of kidnapped female soldier Noa Marciano, after her remains were recovered from Gaza, in the central city of Modiin on November 17. — AFP

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