British family heartbreak as son and fiancée killed in Israel massacre

Heartbreak for British family as they confirm son and his fiancée were both killed in Israel music festival massacre

• Dor Shafir, 30, and wife-to-be Savion Kiper, 31, were killed at Supernova festival
• Israel-Palestine conflict LIVE: Joe Biden condemns ‘sheer evil’ of Hamas

The son of a British-born woman and his financée have been confirmed as the latest victims of the Supernova music festival massacre instigated by Hamas that has killed more than 260 people.

Dor Shafir, 30, and his wife-to-be Savion Kiper, 31, are among those to have been slain by the Palestinian militant group after troops wielding assault rifles opened fire on crowds in the Negev desert on Saturday at the start of a surprise attack on Israel.

Mr Shafir’s mother Miryam Shafir, 55, said earlier that Ms Kiper’s body had been found, but she had been holding out hope that her son would be found alive – prior to the tragic outcome being confirmed.

She earlier said that her son had been able to send her a text message at around 7am on Saturday, roughly half an hour after the all-out assault on Israel began, to say that he and Ms Kiper had found shelter.

Ms Shafir did not hear from her son again, and his phone was turned off manually at 11.30pm on Saturday night; news of Ms Kiper’s death was first reported earlier today.

Miryam Shafir, 55, with her son, Dor Shafir, and his fiancée, Savion Hen Kiper, at a bowling alley

Festivalgoers at the nature party near Nirim, in the south of Israel, close to the Gaza border

Revelers at the trance music rave before the terror of the gunmen’s arrival began

Israelis could be heard shouting, running, and hurriedly getting into cars as they attempted to escape

Mr Shafir and his father, Itzik. His mother said his phone had been manually switched off on Saturday night, hours after she last heard from him

READ MORE: Israel-Hamas war threatens to engulf the Middle East as ‘projectiles are fired from Syria’, salvoes are exchanged with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and airstrikes ‘hit the only land exit from Gaza into Egypt’ 

She told Good Morning Britain on Monday, before learning of her son’s fate: ‘We know from a person that saw them at the party that when they heard the first rockets my son and his girlfriend were the first to run to their car and leave. Within minutes everyone fled.

‘They ran into the forest or got into their cars and started driving all over the place. Some of them were met by Hamas terrorists. Some of the people were shot, some were taken hostage.

‘There were hundreds, hundreds of young people killed. We don’t even know who they are or where they are.’

Ms Shafir, whose parents are from Reading and Dublin, had urged the UK Government to get involved in efforts to trace British citizens.

She had added: ‘We are citizens, they should help stop this war crime from going on. There are hundreds of innocent people, women, children, young people, who are hostages in Gaza.’

Mr Shafir’s death, reported by The Times, comes as British authorities try to calculate exactly how many UK nationals may be caught up in the Hamas-Israel war. At least 10 Brits are believed missing or dead.

Among them is Nathaniel Young, 20, who was fulfilling a boyhood dream to serve in the Israeli army when he was killed in the unannounced Hamas attack. His funeral in Jerusalem was interrupted by air raid sirens and loud bangs.

Corporal Nathanel Young, 20, from London, was a soldier in the 13th Battalion who lived in Tel Aviv

Glasgow man Bernard Cowan, who lived in Israel, was killed on Saturday by Hamas as it staged a mass incursion into the country

Jack Marlowe was last seen attempting to rescue revellers from the killers. He remained missing last night

This is the last picture of Brit Dan Darlington and German girlfriend Carolin Brohl, taken just one day before the attack

READ MORE: Israel and Palestine supporters are separated by police with three arrested after protest outside Israel’s London embassy turns ugly with chanting, flares and fireworks 

Glasgow man Bernard Cowan, 57, was murdered ‘in cold blood’ by Hamas militants at his home in Israel.

Jake Marlowe, 26, was providing security at the Supernova festival where Mr Shafir and Ms Kiper were killed when Hamas struck; his family have not heard from him since he sent a final text reading: ‘Signal very bad, everything OK, will keep you updated I promise you’.

Photographer Dan Darlington is missing, presumed dead, after the kibbutz he was visiting was attacked by Hamas fighters. 

He was meant to have left for Tel Aviv a day before the militants struck – but stayed for one more day to explore the close-knit community.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday that a ‘significant number’ of British-Israeli dual nationals had been caught up in the fighting, but has been reluctant to give specific numbers.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has advised against ‘all but essential’ travel to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza and the border area between Israel and Lebanon known as the Blue Line.

It currently urges great caution around using Brits in Gaza using the Rafah crossing to escape into Egypt.

Israeli forces have been shelling the area as Egypt, the US and Israel hold talks to discuss the opening of a corridor for humanitarian aid.

A Foreign Office spokesperson told the PA news agency: ‘We have been speaking with Egypt about maintaining the land crossing from Gaza into Egypt.

‘We have to remember Hamas is bringing pain on the Palestinian people on purpose. They murdered many hundreds of Israelis, knowing Israel would be forced to react.

‘Israel of course has a right to defend itself with a proportionate response.

‘We need to remember this was initiated by a widespread terrorist response by Hamas.’

Police had to hold back rival groups inside High Street Kensington Tube station last night  

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (right) attended Finchley United Synagogue in central London last night

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Monday that regional governments did not want the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to spill out into other parts of the region 

In the UK itself, Israel and Palestine supporters had to be separated by police on Monday night outside Israel’s London embassy.

Supporters on both sides clashed at High Street Kensington Underground station as police desperately tried to keep the peace, while pro-Palestine protesters launched fireworks at the boarded-up embassy.

Rishi Sunak visited a London synagogue to show support for Israel following Saturday’s attacks, which are believed to have killed more than 1,200 Israelis and 900 people in Gaza.

He later put his name to a joint letter of solidarity for the country, alongside the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the US, which also contained ‘unequivocal condemnation’ for Hamas’ ‘appalling acts of terrorism’.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it is stepping up patrols around the capital amid heightened fears of antisemitic attacks in the wake of Saturday’s events.

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