A Young Man Saves His Lover by Covering a Grenade Thrown by Hamas with His Body

On the 7th, Hamas broke into an apartment and opened fire
"Jumped over the grenade just like we learned in the military"

When the Palestinian armed group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, a Canadian man in his 20s gained attention for covering a grenade with his body to save his fianc?e.

Canadian media outlet CTV and others reported on the 16th (local time), citing a statement from the Israeli Consulate General in Toronto, that 21-year-old Canadian man Neta Epstein was killed during the Hamas attack. It is reported that a total of five Canadians have been confirmed dead in Israel so far.

The Consulate General shared Epstein's heroic story through the official X (formerly Twitter) account. During the Hamas attack on the 7th, Epstein reportedly covered a grenade that entered the apartment with his body to save his fianc?e.

Neta Epstein (right) threw himself over a grenade to save his fianc?e [Image source=Yonhap News]

Although Epstein was Canadian, he also held Israeli citizenship. On the day of the attack, he was staying with his fianc?e, Irene Shavit, in an apartment in the Kfar Aza kibbutz, a communal farming settlement in southern Israel.

The farming settlement, home to 750 residents, had previously suffered from surprise attacks by Hamas. However, even they did not expect Hamas's terror attacks to target all across Israel.

Epstein's mother, Ayelet Shashar-Epstein, realized the severity of the situation after receiving text messages from her son Neta. At that time, Neta sent his mother the first message: "I hear shouting in Arabic. It's very noisy and they are shooting guns."

Then came a second message: "They are here, Mom." At that time, Epstein's mother was sheltering with relatives in a safe house within the farming settlement and was exchanging text messages with her son.

After that message, Neta was no longer able to send texts. Instead, his fianc?e Irene Shavit sent a message saying, "The attackers broke into the apartment and threw a grenade inside."

Shavit told CTV about her late fianc? Neta, "He jumped on the grenade as if he had been trained in the military." Neta's mother recalled, "My son sacrificed his life to save Shavit's life," adding, "He was beautiful in appearance, but his heart was just as beautiful."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.