Hamas tortured hostage to death after misinterpreting eagle tattoo, brother says

A hostage was tortured to death by Hamas because they thought he was an Israeli pilot due to his eagle tattoo, his grieving brother told lawmakers Monday.

Speaking before Knesset about the death of Itzik Elgarat, Dani Elgarat revealed that Hamas kidnapped his brother on Oct. 7, 2023, when they spotted an eagle tattoo on his arm and mistook the 68-year-old for a military pilot, The Times of Israel reported.

“They took him for interrogation and he never came back,” Dani told lawmakers. “…He suffered a heart attack during interrogation under torture.”

Itzik Elgarat, a father of two who also had Danish citizenship, was among the hostages whose bodies were released by Hamas during the short cease-fire in February, with the terrorists seen parading the coffins of the deceased in Gaza.

Dani said his brother had been held alongside freed US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander, who allegedly reported that Itzik had vanished one day after being taken away for questioning by Hamas.

Alexander, an Israel Defense Forces soldier, had asked what happened to his cellmate, with the Hamas guards simply telling him that, “He has gone.”

The heartbroken brother, who remains one of the most vocal opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, did not provide further details about his brother’s cause of death.

During Itzik’s funeral at his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, Dani blamed Netanyahu for his brother’s death and accused the prime minister of effectively killing his brother for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.

Dani has been previously removed from Knesset by force after yelling at Netanyahu for the repeated stalls over the hostage exchange deals with Hamas, with the grieving brother even threatening to file a police complaint against the prime minister for “homicide.”

Dani was on the phone with his brother on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, with Itzik informing him that he had suffered a serious hand injury while trying to hide from Hamas gunmen.

The call cut off as Itzik yelled goodbye to his brother, with his phone coordinates revealing that he was already hulled into central Gaza by the time the IDF expelled Hamas out of Israel.