Presumed captive Shani Gabay found dead

‘We were hoping for a different ending.’

By World Israel News Staff

Law graduate Shani Gabay, 25, who was presumed captured by Hamas during the massacre at the Supernova music festival was found dead on Wednesday.

Gabay, a resident of the northern city of Yokneam, was eulogized by the mayor of the city, Shimon Alfasi: “Our Shani is gone. Our hearts are broken into pieces. We are all crying and refuse to believe it. We were hoping for a different ending.”

When she couldn’t be found in the days and weeks after the massacre, Shani Gabay was thought to have been kidnapped to Gaza.

Her brother Aviel told Maariv,”We believed for many days that she would come back. We were optimistic that there would be a happy ending. We will forever remember her joy and happiness. She was amazing and we hoped she would continue to spread her goodness in the world.”

Aviel was one of the last people to speak to Shani before her murder.

She phoned her family at 6:40 am when Hamas started firing missiles and asked for advice from her brother. She pulled her car over and fled to a shelter when she realized that Hamas was also shooting at people as they fled.

Unfortunately, Hamas threw grenades into the shelter and several of her companions were seriously wounded. She was shot in her leg trying to return to her car, fled to a police command post, and was pursued again by terrorists.

“She was told to run,” said her brother Aviel who was still in contact with her until that then, “but we don’t know how well she could have run by that point.”

For days following the attack, Aviel drove to Soroka hospital in Beersheba to see if she was there, and he was joined by his father turning over bodies by the side of the road to see if they could find the remains of Shani.

The family concluded that she was taken hostage and was being held in Gaza until her remains were discovered on Wednesday morning.

At the request of the family, the media was asked to respect the privacy of the family. The funeral is set to be on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Yokneam.