The brutal murder of Eden Yerushalmi, a young Israeli woman kidnapped by Hamas during their heinous October 7 attack, has shaken Israel to its core. Her story, now revealed by her devastated sisters, exposes the unspeakable horrors she endured in her final days while held captive in the suffocating tunnels beneath Gaza. Eden, once a vibrant 23-year-old, was torn from her life at the Nova music festival, where she worked as a bartender, and thrust into a nightmare few could ever imagine. Her tragic death has only deepened the anger and despair felt by countless Israelis, especially those who continue to await news of loved ones still held hostage.
Eden’s sisters, Shani and May, speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper a few days ago, described the unbearable conditions their sister faced. “They barely could stand fully ... they couldn’t sleep next to each other, only in a line,” Shani said, her voice trembling with emotion. “There were no windows, no air, no light. Barely food, and if they needed to go to the bathroom they were forced to do it in a bucket.” The picture they painted was one of abject inhumanity—a deliberate, calculated cruelty inflicted by Hamas in the depths of their underground terror networks.
For nearly a year, Eden survived these unbearable conditions, a testament to her resilience. Her family, holding onto every shred of hope, received proof of her survival on three separate occasions, including just weeks before her brutal murder. Yet, this hope was shattered when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recovered her body, along with those of five other captives, in a Hamas-run tunnel beneath Rafah. The IDF confirmed that Eden had been “shot in the head from very close range,” her hands bearing the marks of a desperate struggle as she tried to defend herself.
Are you a sister to someone in blood, or in life? Are you a mother or a brother or a father? Sisterhood is what I hold most dear in this life. So I want you to listen to Maya and Shani Yerushalmi who courageously spoke with Anderson Cooper on CNN about their sister Eden, who was… pic.twitter.com/dQPtuY0MDm
— Eve Barlow (@Eve_Barlow) September 21, 2024
May Yerushalmi’s voice broke as she recalled seeing her sister’s body upon its return to Israel. "She was so thin, we could feel her bones sticking out,” she said, her grief palpable. Eden weighed just 79 pounds when she died, an indication of the prolonged suffering and deprivation she endured in captivity.
This senseless act of violence has ignited a fresh wave of outrage across Israel, not only for the inhumanity of Hamas but also towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Many Israelis are furious at the perceived mishandling of the hostage crisis. Eden, along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Carmel Gat, had been slated for release under a humanitarian agreement between Israel and Hamas. Yet, this deal was delayed, with reports suggesting that Netanyahu’s government may have been responsible for the hold-up. The frustration and sorrow over such bureaucratic delays are raw, with every missed opportunity for rescue felt as an additional betrayal.
🎗️Eden Yerushalmi, 24, kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova Festival.
— The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) May 19, 2024
Eden hid in a car under the dead bodies of her friends for 4 HOURS while on the phone with her sisters. Her sisters heard gunshots and Eden cried “They caught me!” before the phone went dead. pic.twitter.com/hMxMb6cGL5
The Yerushalmi family’s torment began the moment Eden sent her final message to them from the festival. After hours of frantic communication with her sisters as she tried to flee the unfolding massacre, her last words were chilling: “They’ve caught me.” What followed was nearly 11 months of unimaginable terror, culminating in her untimely death. The sisters describe Eden as not just a victim, but a hero—someone who fought, who survived longer than anyone could have expected in the face of such darkness.
Eden's story is a tragic reminder of the ongoing human toll of this conflict. The sheer brutality with which Hamas treated her, and countless others, serves as an urgent call for the world to understand the magnitude of the threat Israel faces. Over 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered and 250 kidnapped on that fateful October 7, and since then, the war has raged on, with the loss of over 40,000 Palestinians. Yet, for the families like the Yerushalmis, it is the stories of the hostages—their lost lives, their unimaginable suffering—that fuel their pain and resolve.
The family of Eden Yerushalmi has approved publishing a portion of the Hamas' video filmed shortly before she was executed.
— 𝗡𝗶𝗼𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗴 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) September 2, 2024
"I love and miss you all so much"
Heartbreaking...
pic.twitter.com/8V2mTyzCnc
As Israel continues its war against Hamas, the Yerushalmi family, along with many others, demands answers and justice—not only for Eden but for the more than 100 hostages still languishing in Hamas captivity. Shani captured the lingering trauma best: “It’s very difficult for us. We feel like we’re in a nightmare.” It is a nightmare that, for too many, seems far from over.
In these tunnels of terror, Eden’s life was extinguished, but her memory now stands as a symbol of both the cruelty Israel is fighting against and the strength of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity.
