Bereaved father: Terrorists tried to sell the head of my son, later found in a freezer in Gaza

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fallen soldier Sergeant Adir Tahar’s father, David, spoke to the Israeli Channel 14 about his 19-year-old son’s death on October 7, during the Hamas-led massacres, saying that the head was decapitated then put up for sale in Gaza.

“They sent a missile and three grenades toward him. From a CT scan I received recently his whole body is full of shrapnel, and unfortunately the body of Adir was also abused after he was killed,” David told Channel 14.

“The terrorists, the barbarians, it's too little to say for them, they beheaded him and took the head to Gaza. I did everything I could, it wasn't easy, in the end I got a body without a head. I insisted very much with the army to see the body. They tried to explain to me that I should not see it,” the father confided.

“Half an hour before I buried my child, his body arrived at Mount Herzl [military cemetery], I opened the coffin when I was alone,” he explained, ”I understood exactly what I was burying. He was unrecognizable. I identified him by dog tags and a DNA test and things he had in his pants.”

“When I buried Adir I knew that I was burying my child without an essential part of him. Then the journey began to search for that missing part,” David told Channel 14. “For over two months I I approached everyone I could and asked, at least to get an answer where it is.”

“There's also a video from Telegram. The Internet was flooded with horror videos. I must say that I saw almost everything, unfortunately I found the video of my son, where you can see that my child is without this essential part of him,” he explained about part of the process of finding answers.

Then David said he received an official answer, describing it as “during the interrogation of two arrested terrorists the Shin Bet managed to realize that one of them tried to sell the head. A soldier's head for 10 thousand dollars.”

“It's insanely barbaric,” the soldier’s father added.

“Then an instruction went down to an elite unit, along with armored forces, and they entered the center of Gaza, Palestine Square" inside a freezer, David explained the search operation to Channel 14.

“Inside a duffel bag with tennis balls. Documents of some terrorist, and a soldier's head. They managed to bring what was left after two and a half months, it was probably abused there as well,” the father confided.

“We recovered the bones, what they found, tested DNA, also found teeth, and buried him,” he said, concluding “It is an obvious miracle in my eyes that I can give him peace of mind and body. What we are currently trying to do is to have a memorial for Adir.”

A second burial happened three weeks ago, i24NEWS was able to confirm.