A young couple planning their wedding next summer have been named as the latest victims of the Supernova festival massacre in Israel.
Dor Shafir’s British-born mother Miryam had issued a desperate plea for information about the 30-year-old and his fiancée Savion Kiper, 31.
Mrs Shafir, 55, held out hope her son would be found alive when a witness claimed to have seen the couple fleeing to their car as Hamas militants opened fire on crowds killing 260 in the Negev desert on Saturday.
But Mr Shafir’s family said they were told yesterday both bodies had been discovered.
Police tracing their phones determined his device emitted a signal until 11.30pm on Saturday, before being manually turned off.
Ms Kiper reportedly sent a final text message at 7.03am that day to a friend, saying: “We fled the party and we found shelter.”
Mrs Shafir, whose parents are from Reading and Dublin, had urged the UK Government to get involved in efforts to trace British citizens.
She said: “We are citizens, they should help stop this war crime from going on.
“There are hundreds of innocent people, women, children, young people, who are hostages in Gaza.”
Briton Nathanel Young, 20, who served in the Israeli Defence Services, and Bernard Cowan, 57, who grew up around Glasgow, were killed.
Jake Marlowe, 26, from Potters Bar, who went to the Jewish Free School in north London like Mr Young, is believed to be missing. He was providing security at the Supernova event.
British photographer Dan Darlington and his German girlfriend Carolin Bohl are feared to be dead.
Mr Darlington’s sister Shelley on social media said he was “murdered” at Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel but his death has not been officially confirmed.
Separately, a young Israeli woman who led an armed revolt against invading Hamas gunmen has been hailed a hero.
Inbar Lieberman, 25, armed more than two dozen residents of Nir Am to defend their kibbutz, just a mile from the Gaza Strip.
Ms Lieberman, who has been part of the security detail in the region since last December, heard explosions erupting early on Saturday and rushed to open an armoury to distribute guns.
She killed five Palestinians herself, while the others claimed the lives of 20 more in a four-hour gunfight.
Nir Am was turned into an impenetrable fortress, while nearby settlements suffered heavier losses.
Ilit Paz, Nir Am’s cultural co-ordinator, told the Israel Hayom newspaper: “It was amazing.
“Inbar made a decision not to wait and be jumped operationally. The fact that they did it early prevented dozens of casualties.”
Ms Lieberman was lauded on social media with one person writing: “When it’s all over, this woman will receive the Israel Prize.
“The story of her heroism is a story that will go down in Israeli lore for generations. “Inbal is the reason there is one kibbutz in the entire surrounding area that remains unharmed.”
