In December 2023, an IDF commando unit attempted a daring rescue. During the operation, Sahar was killed.
By The IDF Club
The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed Thursday evening that, following forensic identification by the National Center of Forensic Medicine, the bodies of hostages Amiram Kuper and Sahar Baruch were returned to Israel.
“The Government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Kuper and Baruch families, and of all the families of our fallen hostages,” the statement read. “Israel remains determined and tirelessly committed to bringing back all of our hostages and ensuring each one receives a proper burial in their homeland.”
Amiram Kuper, 85, was a founding member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the communities devastated by Hamas terrorists on October 7. An economist, farmer, and poet, Kuper dedicated his life to building the Negev. A member of the Hashomer Hatzair movement, he helped establish Nir Oz with his fellow pioneers and saw the settlement of Israel’s south as his life’s mission.
He was abducted from his home with his wife, Nurit, during the October 7 massacre. Nurit was released weeks later, but Amiram remained in captivity.
In June 2024, the IDF confirmed that he had been murdered in Gaza while held by Hamas. Kibbutz Nir Oz mourned him as “a man of people and of words — a pioneer of values, a person of initiative and ideas who loved his kibbutz and its members deeply.”
Kuper leaves behind his wife, four children, and eleven grandchildren. His son, Rotem, was among those who organized a civilian effort to send life-saving medicine to hostages held in Gaza.
Sahar Baruch, 25, from Kibbutz Be’eri, was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and murdered in captivity after 62 days. A talented mechanic who served in the Israeli Navy, he was preparing to begin studying electrical engineering at Ben-Gurion University just days after the massacre.
On the morning of the attack, Sahar was home with his mother, Tami, and his brother, Idan, when terrorists stormed the kibbutz and threw grenades into their house. Both brothers were wounded, but Sahar cared for Idan as flames engulfed the home. “Dying in a fire hurts more,” he reportedly told his mother before helping his brother escape. Idan was murdered nearby; Sahar was dragged into Gaza.
In December 2023, an IDF commando unit attempted a daring rescue. During the operation, Sahar was killed. It remains unclear whether he was shot by Hamas gunmen or caught in the crossfire, but what is certain is that he died fighting for his life as Israeli soldiers closed in.
His aunt, Merav, said the family learned he had survived for weeks in captivity. “If anyone could endure such a situation, it was Sahar,” she said. “We saw the other hostages who came home alive and felt it was almost within reach for us too. We could imagine hugging him again.”
Kuper and Baruch, though generations apart, shared a deep love of their people and their land. Their return brings both heartbreak and closure to two families and to a nation that refuses to forget its captives. May their memories be a blessing, and may Israel soon bring every son and daughter home.
