Yahel, 13, disappeared after militants stormed Kibbutz Be’eri and killed her Bristol-born mother Lianne.
The family was told of Yahel’s death yesterday, claiming she was executed. Her sister Noiya, 16, and Israeli father Eli are still missing.
Relatives in the UK have not been seen or heard of them since a truncated message was sent as gun-toting and masked gunmen raided the small community near the Gaza border, picking off cowering families as they burst into homes armed with hand grenades and Kalashnikov rifles.
Panicked Lianne, 48, sent a flurry of messages after hearing a volley of gunfire as militants started their raid and killing spree on October 7.
The teenagers’ uncle – Eli’s brother-in-law Raz Matalon, 53, told how helpless Lianne was briefly able to tell him about the unfolding horror.
READ MORE: Despairing mother begs for her daughter’s release by Hamas
He said: “She wrote that she heard gunshots outside her home. That people were screaming and calling in Arabic. And people running all over.
“So they stayed in the safe room until they heard the terrorists had entered the house and tried to open the door.”
While the fate of Leanne, Noiya and Eli, 51, remains unknown, Raz confirmed Yahel had been murdered. Her other uncle Yossi, 53, was kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
Lianne’s family described her as “a beloved daughter, sister, mother, aunt and friend who enriched the lives of all those lucky enough to have known and loved her”.
They added: “She lived a beautiful life and will be sorely missed by the heartbroken family and friends she leaves behind.”
British-Israeli national Benjamin Trakeniski, 32, was mown down by Hamas gunmen in Be’eri while helping his neighbours flee.
The brutal death toll has seen few countries untouched by the atrocity. At least six Britons have been murdered and a further 10 are missing.
The other UK nationals killed were Bernard Cowan, from Glasgow, Danny Darlington, who was living in Germany and visiting to Israel, London-born Israeli soldier Nathanel Young, and Jake Marlowe, who was working as a security guard at the Nova Music Festival near the Gaza border stormed by Hamas jihadists at dawn.
Don’t miss…
Former ‘Miss Israel’ calls out BLM for response to Hamas terror attacks[WORLD]
Israeli airstrike ‘kills 500 people’ after huge hospital targeted in Gaza[WORLD]
Man shouts ‘I’m part of Hamas’ before committing ‘horror sex attack on train'[WORLD]
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell said Britain was doing “everything”
possible to save UK hostages being held as human shields by Hamas.
He said the Government is “extremely concerned about the fate and the state” of missing Britons, adding: “We don’t know where the missing family is are and we are thinking of them all the time. And of course we are strongly supporting the attempt by Israel to find them and release them.
“The British Government will do everything we possibly can to get them back, as soon as we possibly can.
“We mourn the six British hostages we know who have died and we are extremely concerned about the fate and the state of the other 10. We pray that they are alive.”
As the world continues to come to terms with the massacre Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the slaughter a “pogrom” and said the UK “absolutely supports Israel’s right to defend itself”.
After Leanne’s initial contact via text communication abruptly ended, leaving family here fearing the worst.
The Kibbutz Be’eri community of about 1,100 people was violently awoken at 06:30 when an alarm indicating an imminent rocket attack wailed.
Hamas insurgents murdered more than 120, including children, and kidnapped others. They set people’s homes on fire, then killed them when they tried to escape. They looted, stole and destroyed what they could.
It was three days until Israel Defence Forces soldiers were about to enter.
Ray said: “There were too big blood stains on the floor. They saw the dog lying there dead.”
The family now fears Noiya and Eli have been bundled across the border into Gaza to be held as hostages and human shields as the enclave prepares for a retaliatory bombardment.
In the past days, chilling body cam footage of rampaging Hamas militants has given the world a chilling and real-time account of atrocities inflicted on unsuspecting communities.
Gunmen can be heard barking orders in Arabic as they run from door-to-door as the air is filled with the sound of shots.
Screaming families begged for mercy but were gunned down, some deliberately after being given a head start and told to escape. Israeli soldiers found lifeless bodies riddled with bullets.
Emily Hand, 8, was one of the children murdered during the attack in Be’eri after going to her friend’s house for a sleepover.
After days waiting for news her father Tom said: “Two people from the kibbutz, a team of doctors, psychiatrists, social workers told me softly, but quickly, because they have a lot of people to get through.
“She was dead. I knew she wasn’t alone, she wasn’t in Gaza, she wasn’t in a dark room filled with Christ knows how many people, pushed around, terrified every minute of every day, possibly for years to come. So death was a blessing. In this crazy world, here was me hoping my daughter was dead.”
Israeli authorities said the incursion has left at least 1,300 dead.
Mr Sunak said the people killed and missing in the Hamas attack on Israel came from more than 30 countries. He said the assault was “an existential strike at the very idea of Israel as a safe homeland for the Jewish people
“We should call it by its name: it was a pogrom.”
Source: Read Full Article