Tragedy: Father of Freed Israeli Hostage Dies of ‘Grief’ Hours Before His Rescue

Yossi Meir Jan, 57, the father of freed Israeli hostage Almog Meir Jan, 21, died just hours before his son was rescued by Israeli forces Saturday. The cause of death, his family said, was a broken heart after eight months of his son’s captivity.

The Jerusalem Post reported:

The father of Almog Meir Jan, one of the four hostages rescued from Hamas captivity, was found dead in his home on Saturday, according to Israeli media reports on Saturday night.

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Though he was ill, family members told Israeli media that they believe he died from grief.

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Yossi’s sister Dina added in an interview with KAN Bet on Saturday night that their father was “glued to the television, clinging to every piece of information… he wanted to know everything that was happening to him and what he was going through.”

The Times of Israel added:

“He lost 20 kilos, he couldn’t bear it in any way,” she said. “He closed himself off, didn’t want to see people. Everyone was worried about Yossi, but he wasn’t able to communicate with anyone.”

Dina said she had received a phone call from the army telling her that her nephew had been rescued, and the officer told her they had been unable to reach Yossi.

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“I drove like crazy, I knocked, ‘Yossi, Yossi, Yossi,’ and nothing. I got no answer. The door of his house was open and I saw him sleeping in the living room. I screamed ‘Yossi’ to him and he didn’t answer me. I saw the color of his skin, I touched him, but he was dead,” she said.

Yossi Meir Jan will be buried Sunday in a private ceremony. Also being laid to rest is Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, the leader of the Yamam anti-terrorist unit in the Israeli police who was killed during the rescue operation in Gaza.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.