Minnesota woman who protested Israeli military action in Gaza is among Americans killed by Hamas

Midwesterner Cindy Flash died alongside her husband after terrorists broke into kibbutz safe room

A Minnesota woman who protested Israeli military action in Gaza is among the 27 Americans killed in the attack by Hamas on Israel over the weekend,

Cindy Flash, 67, died alongside her husband, Igal Flash, 66, as Hamas terrorists invaded their home in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz close to the Gaza border.

The couple’s daughter, Keren Flash, 34, told CNN her parents were murdered in a safe room inside their home after Hamas militants were able to break in.

The 34-year-old shared the last messages her mother sent in a neighborhood group chat on Saturday evening when she pleaded for help, saying “they managed to break into the safe room.”

“That was the last time anyone heard from them,” their daughter said.

Ms Flash did not know her parents’ whereabouts for days after Saturday’s attack and only learnt of their deaths on Thursday.

She said the only comfort she took from the tragedy is that they “apparently died instantly so at least it was quick and relatively painless.”

Ms Flash said her father was born in Israel and was the son of Holocaust survivors, while her mother, who she described as “all heart and soul,” had protested Israeli military action in Gaza.

Cindy Flash, 67, was killed alongside her husband, Igal Flash, 66 (CNN)

“Whenever there was a military operation, (she) would always protest,” she said.

“She was there protesting all the time ... because you don’t treat human beings like that no matter what their religious belief is and what their ethnicity is.”

“They were some of the best people that I have ever known,” Ms Flash said of her parents. “They were good people. They cared about other people. They fought for other people’s rights and other people’s voices.”

“They were just a good balance of each other and really taught me what a loving and strong relationship should look like and they were just my inspiration for everything,” she added.

Hamas stormed into Israel early on Saturday morning, killing hundreds of people and taking dozens of captives across the Gaza border in a devastating terror attack that caught the country’s security forces by surprise.

More than 1,300 Israelis were killed in the assault, with thousands more believed to be injured and the number of individuals taken hostage by Hamas currently unclear.

Meanwhile, more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory airstrikes by Israeli forces since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of war on Saturday and promised “mighty vengeance”.

On Monday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the “complete siege” of Gaza, saying authorities would cut electricity and block the entry of food and fuel.

And on Friday, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) ordered all Gaza civilians to leave the area and head southward — a command that the United Nations said is “impossible” to carry out.