An Israeli man was begged not to return to the site of a Hamas attack. He died saving strangers

‘My family and I are heartbroken,’ Keren Shimoni, cousin of Ben Shimoni, tells Andrea Blanco. The Shimoni family had been desperately searching for him after he was last seen at the Supernova Festival on Saturday morning

Before Ben Shimoni ran back towards danger as Hamas militants launched a terror attack at the Supernova Festival, four women whose lives he had just saved begged him to seek shelter, his cousin Keren Shimoni previously told The Independent.

Shimoni, 31, was among more than 3,500 attendees at the all-night rave near Kibbutz Re’im, nearly three miles from the Gaza border, when the violence broke out. As the arid dust of the Negev desert turned red with blood and dead bodies piled on the side of the road, Shimoni indiscriminately welcomed frantic strangers inside his car hoping to save them, witnesses told his family.

He had a carload full of strangers he was hoping to get out of harm’s way the last time he was seen amid the chaos in the early morning hours of Saturday. Five days later, his family received the news they had been fearing — Shimoni was among the hundreds killed by Hamas after the US-designated terror group parachuted into the festival, shooting and taking hostages.

“Unfortunately, Ben’s body was found,” Keren told The Independent in a message on Thursday. “He was killed. My family and I are heartbroken.”

Fighting has escalated in the last few days, with Israel sending retaliatory attacks into Gaza and Hamas threatening to execute hostages. The Israeli government reported that at least 1,300 Israelis have been killed, while the Health Ministry in Gaza said that the death toll in Palestine has surpassed 1,400.

Keren previously told The Independent that Shimoni was on the phone with his girlfriend during a final call before she heard loud noises in the background and the call cut off. Keren said that while her family was shocked by the situation, they were not surprised Shimoni had risked his life to save others.

“Ben would go do what he feels is right, regardless of the risk to himself,” Keren said on Wednesday, before learning the devastating news of her cousin’s death. “That’s within his character.”

Days before his death was confirmed, Shimoni’s car — the same he used to pick up Keren from the airport whenever she visited Israel and the same he used to transport festival goers to safety —had been found smashed on the side of the road.

Members of the Shimoni family in Israel are not only grappling with their loss, Keren added, but now have to navigate grief as they fear for their own safety.

“The rest of my family is “accounted for”. Not safe,” she said. “Now, even as they are trying to mourn and grieve my deceased cousin, they are still constantly interrupted by sirens and running for safety to their bomb shelters. Unfortunately, nobody is safe.”

An Israeli rescue service told the BBC that its paramedics removed more than 260 bodies from the site of the festival in the Negev desert, while hundreds remain missing.

Israeli police and security forces assist a journalist taking cover during an alert for a rocket attack in Israel’s southern city of Sderot near the border with Gaza on 12 October 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

The Israeli government has ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza following Hamas’ attack over the weekend. The US State Department said that at least 27 Americans have died in the conflict and President Biden confirmed reports of American hostages.

Israel officials have said that at least between 100 and 150 hostages were taken by Hamas. Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres said he was in communication with leaders in the Middle East and called for the immediate release of all hostages.

Meanwhile, Israel has deployed hundreds of thousands of troops to the country’s border with Gaza to make sure Hamas won’t have any “military capabilities” in the future.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike at Al Shati Refugee Camp (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered early this week to cut off food, electricity and fuel to the Palestinian enclave. Retaliatory attacks launched into Gaza by Israel have destroyed apartments in residential areas and health facilities and have left more than 200,000 people displaced, according to Reuters.

On Thursday, the chief of staff for Israel‘s military, Herzi Halevi, admitted that the military had failed to protect civilians around the Gaza Strip from Hamas’ attack.

“The IDF is responsible for the security of the country and its citizens, and on Saturday morning in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, we did not,” Halevi said. “We will learn, we will investigate, but now is the time for war.”