Deborah Matias and her husband Shlomi died protecting their son from gunmen who broke into their home. They are among 27 Americans and three Canadians known to have been killed in the Hamas attacks.
“She was so full of life,” said her father, Ilan Troen in a BBC interview. “She could have become a doctor but she once said to me ‘Dad, i have to do music because it’s in my soul.”
His daughter, a 50-year-old musician from Missouri, and her husband fell on top of their 16-year-old son Rotem after their kibbutz near the border with Gaza came under attack.
They were shot and killed but the teenager lay hidden and injured for hours while his grandfather Ilan texted him reassurances.
Hamas, which is labelled a terrorist organisation by the US, has abducted up to 150 people, according to Israel. A number of them are from North America.
It says it has hidden them in “safe places and tunnels” within Gaza, and threatened to kill hostages if civilian homes are bombed by Israel without warning.
These are the stories of Americans and Canadians confirmed by the BBC or credibly reported as dead or missing.
Roey Weiser, 21, served with the Israel Defense Forces and rushed to defend his military base in southern Israel with fellow soldiers when the attack started. “They managed to fend off a bunch of terrorists,” his mother Naomi told the BBC. “Roey even managed to kill one or two and then he died himself.” He had worked at the Kerem Shalom Gaza border crossing, where trucks entered the Gaza strip from Israel and Egypt, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Laor Abramov, 20, is a New Jersey DJ who moved to Israel during the Covid pandemic. He was attending the Tribe of Nova music festival that was attacked and took refuge in a nearby bomb shelter. His parents told CBS News that he texted them, saying “I have to be quiet”. A witness told his family they saw Hamas militants take him away in a pickup truck.
Itay Chen, 19, is serving with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and had elected to work at his base on the Gaza border last weekend to get time off for his brother’s upcoming bar mitzvah. On Saturday he told his family that base was under attack. They soon lost communication. “No one has been able to physically locate him – he is not in hospital, not on the deceased list,” his father Ruby Chen, who grew up in New York, said at a press conference, adding that Itay is considered Missing In Action.
Adrienne Neta, 66, grew up in California. She was sitting on her front porch at the kibbutz where she lived when the attack began. She took shelter while on the phone with her two sons and daughter. “The terrorist barged into her home,” her son Nahal said at a press conference on Tuesday. “We heard a little bit of screaming and that was our last contact with her.”
Alexandre Look, 33, of Montreal, was killed at the Nova festival. He made a video call to his mother, who could hear screaming in the background. He hid in a bunker with about 30 people and survivors told his parents that he used his body to barricade the entrance and shield them from the bullets.
Adi Vital-Kaploun, 33, a dual citizen of Canada and Israel, was killed in her home at Kibbutz-Holit, very close to the Israel-Gaza border. Her two children, said to be four months and four years old, survived. She had deep ties to Ottawa and the family released a statement confirming her death through the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, which did not provide details about how she died.
Hayim Katsman, 32, who received his PhD from the University of Washington and specialized in Israeli studies, was also killed at Kibbutz-Holit. His mother, originally from Ohio, said on Facebook he was killed immediately in his home.
Omer Neutra, 21, from Long Island in New York, also served with the Israel Defense Forces. His parents told the New York Times that he told them things seemed calm at first from his post in southern Israel. But they have not heard from him since the attack began and believe he was kidnapped by Hamas.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, was last seen fighting off attackers at Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he lived with his pregnant wife and two daughters. He has not been heard from since. His father Jonathan. a professor at Hebrew University, is from Connecticut. He said there are only 160 known survivors out of the 400 people living at the kibbutz.
Judith and Natalie Raanan, a mother and daughter from the Chicago area, were staying at the Nahal Oh kibbutz in southern Israel and hid in a bunker when the attack started. They have not been heard from since. A neighbour said they saw Hamas militants escort both Judith, 59, and Natalie, 19, out of the house.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, from California, was at the Nova festival. Witnesses saw him loaded onto a truck by Hamas militants, his family told the Los Angeles Times. He was badly injured and unconscious, the witnesses said. His parents told the Jerusalem Post they received two messages from him, reading “I love you” and “I’m sorry”. His phone was last located on the Gaza border.
Edan Alexander, 19, is an IDF soldier who graduated from recently graduated from Tenafly High School in New Jersey. The office of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said they believe he is classified as Missing in Action. He was serving with the Golani Brigade near the Gaza border.
Daniel Ben Senior, 34, was born in Los Angeles and a dual citizen with the US and Israel. She worked with a group of event organizers at the Nova festival. Her father Jacob told CNN he was notified by authorities that she had been killed.
Igal and Amit Wachs, brothers who were citizens of both the US and Israel. They were part of a village patrol in Israel and Igal’s ex-wife, Liat, who lives in Massachusetts, said she believed they had been called upon to fend off the attack.
Ben Mizrachi, a 22-year-old from Vancouver, was attending the Nova music festival that turned deadly. He was remembered by an administrator at King David High School as a “caring big brother” who loved Israel.
Lotan Abir, 24, was also attending the Nova festival, with two people he knew from a Utah group for young Jewish professionals. He moved to Utah less than a year ago, and was a DJ and musician, as well as handyman.
Source: BBC
