A father warned “they’re here, they’re burning us, we’re suffocating” in his final message before he and five other members of his family were killed by Hamas militants.
Johnny Siman Tov, 36, sent a series of texts to his sister Ranae Butler as terrorists rampaged through the kibbutz where they lived on Saturday.
The 36-year-old Israeli-American was killed along with his wife Tamar Kedem-Simian Tov, 35; their three children aged between two and five, and his mother Carol Simian Tov, 70.
The family initially told friends in Australia they were safe as the Hamas gunmen descended on the Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza Strip on Saturday afternoon, writing: “Hi guys, we got into the shelter in our house, we’re all going to be OK.”
The texts stopped around an hour later after the final message was sent.
Around 80 people in the small community of 400 are thought to have died. Carol Simian Tov was shot dead in her own safe room having fled there with her dog. Two of her sons and two daughters survived the attack along with their father.
One of the sons was wounded in the fighting, with his sister saying: “They barely put on their boots and pants and ran and fought in bravery.
“We’re crying and hugging. They’ve all been through hell.”
The attacks began about 6.30am Israeli time when thousands of rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel and, at the same time,
Hundreds of Palestinian gunmen crossed into Israel. They then went door to door gunning down innocent civilians and soldiers before kidnapping more then 100 Israelis and taking them into Gaza.
Meanwhile, the British families of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza described the Hamas invasion of Israel as a “second Holocaust”.
The mother of Noam Sagi, 53, and the parents of Sharon Lifschitz, 52, were taken hostage after Hamas fighters entered Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border with Gaza on Saturday.
Babies are reported to have been murdered and more than 1,000 Israelis have been killed since Saturday.
A press conference in London was told the situation has created “the biggest hostage crisis the world has faced in decades”.
Mr Sagi, a London-based psychotherapist who grew up on the kibbutz, said: “I shouldn’t be sitting here. I should be on my way to Heathrow to pick up my mum to celebrate her 75th birthday today with her family in London.
“I am here because of pure evil. I am here because I ask for help to release babies, kids, mothers and old people.
“On Saturday morning, Kibbutz Nir Oz, where I was born, woke up to a massacre — to a second Holocaust.”
Ms Lifschitz told how her parents, whom she is not naming out of fear for their safety, have fought for peace in the region all their lives.
The artist and academic, who also grew up on the kibbutz, said: “My mum was taken out, she was kind of disconnected from her oxygen in order to be loaded onto a motorbike.”
She said the distinction between Hamas and the Palestinian people must “now be absolutely clear” and that she “can’t imagine” how Palestinians cope under their rule.
She added: “This is the defining moment of our life. We are going to spend the rest of our lives dealing with this atrocity. We have yet to really comprehend what took place. Now, we are still in this event and we are not up to date.”
