A high-flying American academic was shot dead in a callous attack by Hamas terrorists who burst into his home and found him hiding in a closet, his distraught mother has said. US-born Dr. Hayim Katsman, 32, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2021, was killed in his home in Israel alongside a female neighbor as the militant group launched the deadliest attack on the Jewish community since the Holocaust on Saturday morning.
More than 700 people have been killed in Israel since Saturday, including 260 people massacred by Hamas gunmen at a music festival. President Joe Biden on Monday confirmed that at least 11 Americans were among the victims. Dr. Katsman’s mother, Hannah, said she initially thought her son had been taken hostage, but later learned he had been killed by Hamas after they stormed his home and found him taking cover.
She said one of his neighbors was released, but her son and another neighbor were immediately shot dead. ‘I’ve been getting so many messages from people who worked with Hayim or who knew him, or who met him during their travels and how warm he was, how open,’ Mrs Katsman told ABC News. ‘He was a very accepting person and a very loyal friend. He had a good sense of humor. He took things in stride.’ Dr. Katsman had been living on a kibbutz – a Jewish commune – in Israel conducting research, his mother said. A statement released by the Association for Israel Studies described the slain academic as ‘an emerging scholar in the field of Israel studies’, who was ‘deeply committed to community service’.
His volunteer activities included Co-Coordinator of the Israel/Palestine research group at the University of Washington, the statement added. It comes after President Joe Biden released a paper statement Monday condemning ‘inexcusable hatred and violence’ in the terror attack on Israel, as he revealed that ‘at least’ 11 Americans have been killed in the carnage.
‘As we continue to account for the horrors of the appalling terrorist assault against Israel this weekend and the hundreds of innocent civilians who were murdered, we are seeing the immense scale and reach of this tragedy,’ Biden said. ‘Sadly, we now know that at least 11 American citizens were among those killed—many of whom made a second home in Israel.’
He also said it was ‘likely’ there are Americans being held hostage as well, pledging to work with Israeli forces on the matter. That statement comes as Hamas has threatened to start killing hostages if Israel conventions an invasion of Gaza that appears imminent. It is likely to strike terror into the hearts of American families fearing for loved ones in the war-torn region.
The father of a missing American serving in the Israeli army today called on President Biden to do more to protect US citizens under attack from Hamas. Itay Chen, a US-Israeli dual citizen, was serving with the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) on the Gaza border when Hamas launched its devastating terror attack on Israel on Saturday morning. His father, Ruby Chen, who is from Brooklyn, New York, but now lives in Netanya, Israel, said the last he heard from his ‘wonderful’ son was that his base was under heavy bombardment.
Mr. Chen said he had reached out to the U.S. State Department for help, but criticized American authorities for ‘taking a back seat’ in the investigation into Itay’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, the parents of a missing 23-year-old American man pleaded for him to ‘come home’ after he sent a chilling text message to them while he attended a desert party in Israel, moments before Hamas launched a surprise attack that killed 260 people at the festival.
Hersh Golberg-Polin, 23, texted his mother and father ‘I love you, I’m sorry’ at 8.11am on Saturday – as callous Palestinian militants declared war on Israel, took dozens of people as hostage and killed hundreds during the Jewish high holiday. Born in Berkeley, California, Hersh and his family moved to Jerusalem when he was just seven-years-old. His family have no idea where he is – and they are now fearing for his life, after he spent the evening at the desert rave near the Gaza Strip that was infiltrated and ambushed by Palestinian terrorists.
Ilan Troen, a professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, said that his daughter Deborah Matias, 50, and her husband, Shlomi, were killed when Hamas fighters attacked their community in southern Israel. The Boston-born academic recalled how his daughter Debbie Shahar Troen Mathias and son-in-law Shlomi Mathias were killed by gunmen from the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The State Department would not confirm whether Matias or Katsman were one of the 11 Americans it confirmed as having been killed in Israel since Hamas launched its attack on Saturday. Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12612283/American-Hayim-Katsman-shot-dead-Israel.html?ito=msngallery
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