Israeli family of five, including three young kids, murdered in Hamas attack

An Israeli family of five, including twin 6-year–old girls and their 4-year-old brother, were killed by Hamas – a short time after their mom messaged friends that they took refuge in a bomb shelter.

Tamar Kedem-Siman Tov and her husband Yonatan (Johnny) rushed into the bunker on Saturday with their daughters Shachar and Arbel and son Omer at their home in Nir Oz, a kibbutz on the outskirts of Gaza.

The 35-year-old woman sent her friends in Sydney, Australia, a WhatsApp message to let them know that they were safe amid rockets fired by the terrorists, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

“Hi guys, we got into the shelter in our house, we’re all going (SIC) okay,” the message sent at 2:45 p.m. local time read, according to the outlet.

But when Tamar stopped responding later, her friends Yishai and Mor Lacob began to panic.

“It started to get really scary. We’re trying to call her, message her. We were trying to speak with people there … people we might know in this area, we were harassing everyone,” Mor told the Morning Herald.

The friends Down Under eventually got the shattering news that the entire family had been wiped out in the deadliest attack on the Jewish state since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The terrorists had breached the safe room and slaughtered the family in cold blood.

Tamar, a community activist and women’s rights activist, recently campaigned to become head of the Eshkol Regional Council – and only recently posted a family photo online captioned: “It should be a good year for all of us,” according to the outlet.

“She was such a special woman. She always cared about the poor people, always made sure that people less fortunate will have the same opportunities. She was a living example to these values,” Mor said.

Another friend, Tzofia Cohen, also mourned her death.

“Tamar Kedem-Siman Tov OBM, a trailblazing activist, did well with everything she touched, she was an excellent scout coordinator in Ashdod,” wrote in social media, Arutz Sheva reported, using the acronym for “of blessed memory.”

Tamar was “a student in the paths to generations program at Kaye Academic College on the education path where I taught, and she immediately continued to a master’s degree, so impressive,” Cohen wrote, referring to the school in Beersheba.

“Their holy memories should be a blessing. I so much hoped that they would be found, and the bitter news hit me; Tamar, my love, I’m having trouble believing; how can this be?” she continued.

“What type of lowly people kill babies with their parents? It is so hard to think that you are no longer. My heart is with your parents, your siblings, and Johnny’s family,” Cohen added.

Tamar’s husband was an operations manager and wheat grower in Nir Oz, which has a population of around 400 people in the northwestern Negev desert, the Morning Herald reported.

Mor told the outlet that the kibbutz had always seemed a peaceful place to raise a family despite its proximity to Gaza.

“They wouldn’t have thought such a thing can happen,” she said of the tragic family.