When the air raid sirens sounded on the morning of October 7, Bilha Inon and her husband Yakovi took shelter within the protected room of their dwelling in Netiv Haasara in southern Israel.
An hour after the Hamas assault, their son spoke to them on the telephone. It was the final signal of life for Bilha, the one Israeli sufferer nonetheless formally lacking.
Whereas her household is satisfied she was killed alongside along with her husband within the Hamas assault, Israeli officers — who initially stated she was killed — now say they’re not sure.
The case underlines the difficulties authorities have confronted in finding and figuring out the victims of the Hamas assault, which occurred over a lot of southern Israel.
Bilha, 75, was an artwork instructor and ran a studio from the inexperienced bungalow behind the couple’s lavishly adorned dwelling, 500 meters from the Gaza border fence.
Even the shelter the place she took cowl on October 7 was painted with mandalas and had a wall with the inscription “phrases that give power and encouragement”.
She instructed an Israeli newspaper 5 months earlier than the assault that though most households would go away throughout earlier preventing between Israel and Gaza militants, “we frequently keep.”
– Final signal of life –
On the morning of October 7, the primary three Palestinian militants had been photographed crusing over the border wall into Netiv Haasara in motorized paragliders.
Gunmen then poured in from Gaza, killing 21 of the 900-strong group, in keeping with the Institute for Nationwide Safety Research.
By then, nevertheless, the Inons’ picket home had been hit by a shoulder-launched rocket and burned down, considered one of their granddaughters instructed Ynet, an Israeli information web site.
Solely the concrete basis and charred shell of the protected room stay.
It was one of many opening salvos of the Hamas assault that resulted within the deaths of 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, in keeping with an AFP rely primarily based on official Israeli figures.
About 250 had been taken hostage by Palestinian militants; 129 stay in captivity six months later, together with 34 who the army says are lifeless.
Israel’s retaliation in opposition to Hamas has killed a minimum of 33,545 Palestinians, most of them girls and kids, in keeping with the Hamas-run Well being Ministry in Gaza.
Within the weeks following October 7, the Israeli military, police, Ministry of Well being and even archaeologists from the Antiquities Authority scrambled to find and establish the stays of greater than 200 lacking folks.
Six months later, the official checklist of lacking has been lowered to only Bilha Inon.
– ‘My mom will not be lacking’ –
Mor Ynon, considered one of Bilha’s 5 kids, stated investigators discovered stays that genetic testing confirmed had been her father’s, together with “different stays that didn’t yield DNA.”
A military investigation initially concluded that Bilha and Yakovi each died of their dwelling.
However they came upon when forensic consultants stated it was not potential to erase all DNA traces in a fireplace.
Nevertheless, her kids have determined that their dad and mom died collectively at dwelling. They held shiva, the Jewish mourning ritual, for them the day after the assault.
“So far as we’re involved, my mom is not lacking,” Ynon stated.
Her brother Maoz Inon, a longtime peace activist, instructed AFP that “the one who’s lacking… is the Israeli authorities.”
“The army all the time instructed us the identical factor: Hamas is deterred, you’re protected,” he stated.
“What the army says is irrelevant. I decide each establishment, each group, each individual primarily based on their actions.”
– Unraveling the thriller –
Israel’s Well being Ministry, which runs the forensic laboratory that recognized human stays from the assaults, declined remark, as did the police and military.
“It is a thriller,” Lt. Col. Dana Nof, the military officer who labored with the household, instructed Israel’s Channel 12 final month. “We try to make clear and are available to a conclusion that may reveal whether or not she is alive or not .”
“The chance that she is a hostage is without doubt one of the potentialities being investigated,” Nof stated.
Nevertheless, most consultants within the case agree that with out conclusive proof, something – together with Bilha Inon’s hostage scenario – is feasible, the Channel 12 report stated.
For Mor, nevertheless, the trauma has not pale.
“Sadly, the occasion that began on October 7 has not ended so long as there are greater than 100 hostages within the Gaza Strip,” she stated.
