Eden Yerushalmi was found murdered along with six other hostages in Gaza.
I'm running away, please find me, pleaded Eden Yerushalmi to the police dispatcher as she desperately tried to escape the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists at the Nova Music festival on October 7, 2023. Almost a year later, on September 1, she was found murdered along with six other hostages in Gaza.
Ms Yerushalmi, a 24-year-old Tel Aviv native, was kidnapped last year by Hamas from the music festival in southern Israel, where she was working as a bartender. Her last known words, spoken in desperation, have become a haunting reminder of the brutal reality faced by many during the attack.
On that fateful day, Eden Yerushalmi managed to stay on the phone with her sister for three hours while hiding among the bodies of her friends who had been killed, reported the Jerusalem Post. As the terror unfolded around her, she fled into a nearby forested area. Before being captured, she made a desperate call to the police, uttering her final words: "I'm running away, please find me, OK?"
Besides Eden, the five other hostages who were found "brutally murdered" on Sunday were - Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23; Ori Danino, 25; Alex Lubnov, 32; Carmel Gat, 40; and Almog Sarusi, 27.
Ori Danino, an off-duty noncommissioned officer, and the others were all taken during the same attack on the music festival. Carmel Gat, however, was abducted from Kibbutz Be'eri.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) discovered their bodies in a tunnel in Rafah, just a kilometre away from another site where a previous hostage, Farhan al-Qadi, was rescued.
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According to IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the six hostages were likely killed just a day or two before the IDF troops found them, in what he described as a "brutal" act of violence by Hamas. The IDF had been engaged in intense fighting in the area, and it is believed that the terrorists killed their captives in a final, heinous act as Israeli forces closed in.
The IDF had been operating with extreme caution in the area, driven by indications that hostages might be held nearby. However, the exact location of the captives remained unknown.
After Mr Farhan was found, IDF troops intensified their efforts, searching a complex of tunnels some 20 metres underground. It was here, on Saturday afternoon, that they discovered the bodies of Ms Eden and the rest of the hostages.
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