A heroic British-Israeli soldier threw back seven Hamas grenades during the music festival massacre on October 7, before being killed when the eighth blew up in his hand.
Staff Sergeant Aner Shapiro, 22, was one of hundreds of party-goers at the rave near Kibbutz Re’im on Friday night and Saturday morning.
His grandmother, Yamima Ben-Menahem, told Sky News how he ran to a shelter with his friends and 30 others when they realised they were under attack.
“First he tried to calm them down and said the army was only half an hour away and was sure that everything was going to be OK,” she said.
She explained how Hamas terrorists then approached the shelter and started throwing hand grenades into it.
“When the terrorists came nearer, he stood at the entrance, and when they started throwing grenades into the shelter, he said ‘I’m going to throw them back’, and if I miss one, you do the rest of the work.
“He just stood there and threw back one grenade after the other.
“From what his friends told us he managed to throw back about seven grenades, and then the last one exploded in his hands,” she said.
Ben-Menahem said that her family learned of her grandson’s heroism when survivors from group he had sheltered with called them and said, “he saved our lives”.
She added that after he was killed, Hamas went back in and took five or six hostages before opening fire on those who remained.
Source: Jewish Chronicle