The IDF announced Monday the death of 35-year-old Yagev Buchshtab in Hamas captivity.
Buchshtab was taken from Nirim, a Kibbutz in the Gaza border communities, along with his wife Rimon Kirsht Buchshtab. She was released in the November hostage deal, while he remained behind in captivity. Both Buchtav and his wife worked in alternative medicine.
'A devoted husband and best friend'
Buchshtab was a "devoted husband, dog-lover, and best friend," the Hostage Families Forum said. Yagev and Rimon built their home on the Kibbutz "with love, filling it with flowers, plants, and music. It was a place filled with positive energy and good memories," they added.
He was the oldest son, and an older brother to two siblings. He was described as a quiet and humble person, and a true autodidact, who had a wide range of passions including music, philosophy, poetry, politics and more.
He learned to play guitar and was part of a band in high school before teaching himself to play the flute, organ, clarinet, and more.
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Buchshtab and his brother built electric guitars and other instruments. He also studied acoustics and ran a recording studio.
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Hamas had announced Buchshtab's death in captivity in March, saying he died from a lack of medicine and food, but the IDF did not initially accept this announcement given Hamas's history of engaging in psychological warfare.
Buchshtab's sister Nofar spoke in the Knesset committee last week, before the announcement of Buchshtab's death, saying that it was getting harder and harder to maintain the hope that her brother was ok and calling for a deal that would bring him home.
"The hope and optimism that were so strong in the beginning are disappearing for me a little," she said.
She also touched on the death of hostages who had been held with her brother, saying, "It is all of our tragedy. It is our tragedy as a country that we did not manage to bring them back in time. That we were not able to bring them home."
In May, Jerusalem Post senior editor David Brinn released a song he wrote about Rimon and her release from Hamas captivity in November in one of the brokered ceasefire hostage releases that took place.
Rimon projected a heroic image when she alighted the Red Cross van carrying her, stared down her masked Hamas captive, and then walked to freedom.
Rimon Buchshtab made waves when, in footage of her release from captivity, she could be seen staring down her captors, and guiding another hostage who was released with her to the Red Cross vehicle.
She initially refused to leave her husband behind and agreed to be released only when her Hamas captors told her that she could come with them, or be dragged by them, N12 reported in November.