Israeli Woman Presumed Hostage Killed Near Gaza Border

An Israeli woman who went missing after the October 7 Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival in Israel was assumed to be held hostage by Hamas militants. However, after 45 days, her family, hoping to receive a piece of positive news, found her dead body under the burned ambulance at the concert site of the attack.

The 25-year-old woman named Shani Gabay was a recent law graduate and would have turned 26 the next week. She last contacted her mother at 6:40 AM informing her about the airstrikes and asking her what to do, after which her two friends who survived the attack claimed she was shot in the leg and was lost. For the next five days, her father searched her whereabouts, even turning the piles of dead bodies to find their daughter.

Shani Gabay Vanished After October 7 Hamas Attack; Found Dead:

The body of the Israeli woman, who was assumed to have been kidnapped by the Hamas militants and held hostage as she went missing after the October 7 Hamas attack, was found on Thursday under the burned ambulance at the site of Supernova music festival where she was working.

The Supernova Music Festival held in Re'im, Israel, where more than 3000 people were reportedly celebrating the Jewish holiday, was one of the first sites of attack by the Palestinian Islamist militant group as they initiated a surprise invasion of Israel from the Gaza Strip killing more than 340 people, abducting more than 40 people, and injuring more. 

In the Jerusalem Post, Yokneam Mayor Simon Alfasi expressed grief as he said "Our Shani is gone. Our hearts are broken into pieces. We are all crying and refuse to believe, how much we waited for a different ending. Forty-seven days of hope came to an end with receiving the bitter news this morning about the murder of Shani on October 7.”

Family and Friends Share Ordeal:

Gabay's mother said she called her at 6:40 AM informing her about the rockets in the sky and asking her what she should do when her mother advised her to find a place to hide and to get out of her car. 

Reportedly, Gabay hid near a shelter near Kibbutz Alumim. The two of her friends who survived the attack shared that as the Hamas gunmen fired grenades at the shelter, Gabay ran back to her car, but she was shot and was taken to the police command post at the site of the concert to get medical aid, but she was not seen again after that.

Gabay's brother told the Israeli media that his sister was asked to run, but he doesn't know how she could have run by that point. 

After not hearing from Gabay, her family initiated a lookout for her at every medical centre and hospital where injured people from the concert were reportedly treated. Upon not finding Gabay at any medical care, her father headed to the site of the party to find some clue about his daughter's whereabouts. 

Over the next five days, her father turned even the dead bodies at the site into ditches and roads to find Gabay. 

Suggested Reading: Of Valour & Resilience: 5 Women On Frontlines Amid Israel-Gaza War