The family of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin announced the young man’s death early Sunday, ending a relentless campaign by his parents to rescue him that included meetings with world leaders and an address to the Democratic convention last month.
Goldberg-Polin, 23, was seized by militants at a music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7. The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the attack. In April, a Hamas-issued video showed him, his left hand missing and clearly speaking under duress, sparking new protests in Israel urging the government to do more to secure his and others’ freedom.
Not trying to be pedantic, but you recover the body once someone is dead. Rescue specifically means that you’re trying to get to a person before further injury or death can occur. Recovering someone’s remains is done almost purely out of respect for our need for burials and closure. It’s a really solomn and respectful thing that’s not to be taken lightly, so recover is absolutely the right word to use here.
Source: I did some search and rescue training as a kid.
The Atheist side in me agrees with you.
But in a lot of religions (islam comes to mind for example) a proper burial is needed to advance to heaven.
So yes, you’re rescuing them and their soul.
You can also say that you rescued their bodies from destruction / defiling if you think that the bodies would have been defiled
I mean, you are trying to be pedantic lol but it’s justified in this instance.