A Father’s Quest for Truth: The Heartbreaking Search for Elyakim After the Hamas Attack

On the night of Simchat Torah, Eliyahu Libman arrived near the Re’im junction in the Gaza envelope. Around him, soldiers moved with vigilance, the area was filled with destruction, and ZAKA volunteers were handling dozens of bodies of victims. “I arrived at the location that my son Elyakim had sent me in his last message. In those moments, I knew something bad had happened, but I didn’t know exactly what,” he shares in a special interview with Hidabroot.

Elyakim, who was murdered in the Hamas attack on southern Israel, was initially thought to be kidnapped. Since the massacre, his father has become one of the prominent voices in Israel, warning about the danger of succumbing to terrorism and leaving Hamas as a looming threat for the future.

A Father's Search for His Son

Eliyahu recalls his time in the Gaza envelope, in the last location he received from his son, trying to determine his whereabouts. "There were bodies of over 100 victims scattered around me, some of whom had been set on fire by the evil terrorists. I understood that my son Elyakim was murdered. But then, I received a message from one of the security guards at the 'Nova' party, who told me that he had seen Elyakim earlier that afternoon. This changed the entire picture, and from that moment, I believed Elyakim was alive."

Was there any proof for the guard’s statement?

“The testimony of the guard seemed very credible,” says Eliyahu. “He told us that Elyakim, along with Itamar Mor and another guard who were definitely kidnapped, dragged a body off the middle of the road so that the terrorists wouldn’t take it to Gaza before they themselves were kidnapped. The guard showed us where the body was, still on the ground at that time, which strengthened the credibility of the testimony. Later, the army showed us a video, and they estimated that Elyakim was in Gaza. These two pieces of evidence led us to believe he was indeed kidnapped.”

Last Message from His Son

The last message Eliyahu received from his son was around 9:00 AM on Simchat Torah. Eliyahu, an accomplished individual who previously served as the head of the Kiryat Arba Regional Council and as the security officer of the Jewish community in Hebron, tried to locate his son based on the estimated location Elyakim had shared. Unfortunately, no trace of Elyakim was found. It seemed likely that he had been taken to Gaza.

But as time passed, doubts began to arise. Initially, the IDF had backtracked on the estimation that Elyakim had been seen in the video footage from Gaza. “Until now,” Eliyahu says, “it’s unclear who the person was in the footage that appeared to be kidnapped.” Meanwhile, an investigation team was set up to thoroughly investigate the fate of every missing person. “The investigation team doubted all available information, and their excellent personnel began re-examining the case of each missing person. They quickly began to assess that Elyakim had not been kidnapped, but was likely still within Israel’s borders, after initially dismissing the testimony of the guard who claimed to have seen Elyakim.”

Elyakim at his siddur party

A Heroic Stand Against Terror

The investigation revealed that Elyakim had been treating gunshot victims for about three hours, from around 6:30 AM until approximately 9:30 AM. "He was trying to secure weapons from police officers on-site to prepare for a possible battle with the terrorists if they came to the gathering point for the injured," his father recounts. "Elyakim could have fled. Until 9:30 AM, he had enough time to escape, just like most of the participants at the 'Nova' party. But he bravely chose to stay and fight for the lives of the injured, using the knowledge he had as a medic in the army. One of the injured people he treated was Shani Gabai, who was later murdered by the terrorists. Unfortunately, many of the people Elyakim treated were killed later when the terrorists reached the gathering point and shot everyone there. Sadly, the terrorists also found Elyakim and killed him."

Where was he killed?

"He was killed at the gathering point for the 'Nova' party victims," Eliyahu continues. "Next to him was an ambulance that was hit by an RPG missile and caught fire. The investigators concluded that Elyakim was among those killed at the site. One of the volunteers who collected the bodies told me later that the body bags used at the scene melted from the intensity of the flames. The investigators believed a mistake had been made, and Elyakim, who was also there, was mistakenly taken with another body and buried with it."

Elyakim Libman with his father

What did the investigation teams rely on in their assessment?

"The call I received from Elyakim was at 9:03 AM, and at 9:23 AM, the ambulance was hit by the RPG. At that point, the investigators checked which phones were operating near the ambulance, and they discovered that several phones had been turned off exactly at 9:23. Among them was Elyakim’s phone. This didn’t definitively confirm his death, but it gave the investigators a critical clue that led them to focus their search more precisely.”

Family Support During Difficult Times

Throughout this painful period, Eliyahu’s family was supported by Rabbi Abraham Yitzhak Schwartz, the Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba, who visited them every Friday with pastries and words of encouragement. “Despite being a father, grandfather, and city rabbi, he and his wife never left our side,” Eliyahu says. “Alongside him, an IDF officer from the Air Force, also a resident of Beit El, became part of our family during these three months.”

“After a few days of ‘shiva visits’ at the recommendation of our rabbi, when I was about to leave the settlement of Sde Boker, I encountered a Jewish man who said to me, ‘I saw you on Shabbat night in the synagogue, and that night I couldn’t sleep. I tried to understand why you were able to touch so many people, especially when there have been so many tragedies. Then I realized — it was because you were in the lowest place personally, a place where you should have been in utter despair, yet you had absolute submission to God, that everything comes from Him. When a Jew reaches such a place and speaks the way you did, it opens the hearts of all of Israel.’ Then he added, ‘You lost one son, but you have many sons in Israel.’ That left me with tears in my eyes.”

Reflections on Faith After Tragedy

In the aftermath of Elyakim's death, Eliyahu has become a beacon of faith and strength. “I was fortunate that my words have reached many. I remember a particular event when I was in Sde Boker, preparing to leave, and a man approached me, telling me how my words had touched him deeply. Despite the unimaginable pain, I held on to my belief in God, and that belief gave me the strength to cope."

The Importance of Addressing the Root of Terrorism

Eliyahu emphasizes that in order to safeguard Israel, Hamas must be eradicated. "The terrorists wanted to take away our joy and our right to exist here. If we leave Hamas intact, we will continue to face more kidnappings and terror attacks. We must destroy our enemies to protect Israel and God's name."

He ends with a verse from Tehillim: "I will pursue my enemies and destroy them, and I will not turn back until they are consumed." He believes that this verse is especially relevant in these difficult times.