Editor’s note: an earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Tiferet Lapidot was a citizen of Israel and Canada. She was solely a citizen of Israel.
An Israeli citizen with Canadian roots is confirmed to have died during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,400.
Tiferet Lapidot, 23, had been missing since attending a music festival where Hamas gunmen killed more than 260 people.
Because her family is from Canada, Global Affairs Canada had been treating Lapidot as a Canadian during the aftermath of the Hamas attack.
She had applied for citizenship and the file was in progress when she disappeared and was feared to have been among roughly 200 taken prisoner by Hamas.
But the family was informed Monday night her body had been found.
Five Canadians are known to have died when Hamas gunmen breached the Gaza border with explosives and carried out mass killings. Two are still missing.
At a funeral service on Tuesday, Lapidot’s father Ohad thanked the Canadian Jewish community for its support during the crisis.
“We hope the Canadian people will support Israel,” he said.
He said he met with Foreign Minister Melanie Joly during her recent visit to Israel, and she had tried to help the family.
“She heard our voice,” he said.
A representative of Canada’s Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs attended the service.
“We want to show the families that are going through hell, that I can’t even imagine, that we are with them, we support them,” said Myriam Azogui-Halbax, the director of CIJA’s Israel office.
The Hamas attack has had a deep impact, she said.
“It woke up everything that we have in our DNA, in our collective trauma as Jews. We felt that we would never go through that again.”
“Make no mistake, this is a pogrom, this is pure hate against Jews.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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