Irish-Israeli still missing after festival carnage
AN IRISH-Israeli woman remains missing two days after the unprecedented attack against Israel by Hamas.
Kim Damti, 22, was attending a music festival near the Gaza border when gunmen arrived at the site.
Scheduled to coincide with the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah, the Supernova weekend-long outdoor rave in southern Israel was billed as a celebration of ‘friends, love and infinite freedom’.
Instead, revellers were surrounded by Hamas gunmen who descended on the site in paragliders, motorbikes and pick-up trucks.
In an interview with ABC News in the US, her mother Jennifer Damti, from Laois, said her daughter had phoned them shortly after. ‘Kim didn’t realise there was like seven or eight Toyota vans full of terrorists and they just shot everywhere.
‘They just shot them, slaughtered them like ducks, and that’s the reason I’m here, because I want the world to condemn this behaviour. I didn’t bring my children up to hate anybody.
‘You can’t sleep. All I can think about is where she is, if she’s suffering, if she’s still alive. I just want her back, she said.
‘So many other mothers here today. I’m not the only one. Everybody is missing somebody.’
Yesterday, Kim’s older sister confirmed she remains missing.
In a post on social media, she said: ‘A reality that can’t be perceived. The heart is finding it hard to believe.
‘To all the worried, to all the asking, we are all in the same boat.
‘Please do not spread unconfirmed information, and do not bother our family right now.
‘We are trying to stay strong, not lose hope, hope for the best and pray that you will be with us. Thank you all for the reinforcements and the love. Please pray she is found safe and sound.’
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said consular officials are aware of the case and were in touch with the family.