Yotam Haim

Yotam Haim, 28, a drummer for heavy metal band Persephore, was abducted October 7, when Hamas terrorists attacked his kibbutz, Kfar Aza.

His death was announced on December 15 by the IDF Spokesman, who said he was tragically killed along with two other hostages in Shejaiya, northern Gaza. The three were trying to escape but were misidentified by IDF soldiers as terrorists and killed.

Yotam was last seen in a video he took on the morning of October 7, showing himself in the front door of his Kfar Aza home, according to what his mother, Iris Haim, told the AP.

He texted the video to his mother, in which the sounds of gunfire can be heard before he headed back inside.

The family found out that Yotam’s house was set on fire by the terrorists, but haven’t found out any other information. They were later informed that Yotam was taken hostage in Gaza.

Yotam’s brother, Tuvi Haim, is also a drummer and performs with Netta Barzilai’s band.

“My brother, please come back to me, we are waiting,” wrote Tuvi on one of his Facebook pages.

Members of Yotam’s band, along with his brother and other friends, gathered and “just jammed,” Iris Haim told AP.

“I think when I heard them play it was like opening my tear ducts,” she said. “It made me able to cry.”

In a touching an honorable message, Iris Haim, Yotam's mother, recorded a message for the soldiers who killed him, telling them that she and her family love them and do not blame them for his death:

“This is Iris Haim. I am Yotam’s mother. I wanted to tell you that I love you very much, and I hug you here from afar.

“I know that everything that happened is absolutely not your fault, and nobody’s fault except that of Hamas, may their name be wiped out and their memory erased from the earth,” she continues.

“I want you to look after yourselves and to think all the time that you are doing the best thing in the world, the best thing that could happen, that could help us. Because all the people of Israel and all of us need you healthy,” she says.

“And don’t hesitate for a second if you see a terrorist,” she urges. “Don’t think that you killed a hostage deliberately. You have to look after yourselves because only that way can you look after us.”

“At the first opportunity,” Iris Haim continues, “you are invited to come to us, whoever wants to. And we want to see you with our own eyes and hug you and tell you that what you did — however hard it is to say this, and sad — it was apparently the right thing at that moment.

“And nobody’s going to judge you or be angry. Not me, and not my husband Raviv. Not my daughter Noya. And not Yotam, may his memory be blessed. And not Tuval, Yotam’s brother. We love you very much. And that is all.”

Source: The Times of Israel