Fifth Canadian confirmed dead in Hamas attack threw himself on grenade

globalnews.ca:

Netta Epstein, was sheltering with his girlfriend in a safe room at the Kfar Aza kibbutz when Hamas gunmen somehow broke inside.They shot him and tossed the explosive at the couple but Epstein smothered it with his body, his mother told Global News. His girlfriend, Irene Shavit, survived and was later rescued.Epstein was born in Israel but had Canadian citizenship through his grandmother, who was born in Montreal, said his mother, also a Canadian. He served in the Israel Defence Force until August.“It’s really important that the world knows what we went through,” Shachar-Epstein said.

“The people that live on our kibbutz are peace-loving people that hold their hands out for peace.”“And what’s been done to us is slaughter.”Shachar-Epstein also survived the Oct. 7 attack by hiding in a different safe room at Kfar Aza. But her mother, son, and two brothers-in-law were among the 70 killed at the kibbutz that day.

A nephew is missing.After the alarms first sounded at the kibbutz near the Gaza border at around 6:30 that morning, Shachar-Epstein messaged her son on WhatsApp, and they kept in touch until he died.The following is a condensed transcript of their messages: Grandmother was shot and she is killed. Ok. What was she killed from? Was it a rocket or was it terrorists? It was terrorists. F**k. The remnants of the bullet is next to her. Ok. Help grandpa. How about you? We’re hanging in there. Is Irene afraid? Both of us are afraid. Of course you are. ❤️❤️❤️ I love you my boy. ❤️ Call me now. What’s happening. Write to me. Ya daddy already wrote to me. How did it happen? Do you know? It was a terrorist that shot him. Mommy what’s happening? Give us a report. We’re in the safe room, it’s locked. Did you lock? Yes. Terrorists