IDF recovers remains of Be’eri hostage Meny Godard, murdered on 7 October

The remains of slain Be’eri hostage Meny Godard were returned to Israel on Thursday, more than two years after he was murdered by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists during the 7 October attacks.

Godard, 73, was killed alongside his wife Ayelet after the couple fled their burning home on Kibbutz Be’eri. Ayelet’s final call to their children reported Meny had been shot dead before she hid in nearby bushes, where she was later found murdered.

Terrorists took Godard’s body into Gaza. The IDF confirmed his death on 8 December 2023, and in March 2025 located some of his remains inside a refrigerator at a PIJ post. His full remains were repatriated on 13 November 2025, with soldiers forming an honour guard as he was brought back into Israel.

A Yom Kippur War veteran who served in an armoured reconnaissance battalion, Godard was also a former professional footballer in the 1970s and a devoted Hapoel Tel Aviv supporter. He moved to Be’eri at 13 and spent decades working in key roles across the kibbutz, including at its printing house, pool, shop and accounts department.

His children described him as “the most devoted and loving father and grandfather”, calling him “a family man who cared for everyone” and “a man of the sea”.

Godard is survived by his children Gal, Bar, Mor and Goni, and by seven grandchildren.