Joel Goldenberg – The Suburban LJI Reporter

Family members, including Montrealer Oran Zlotnick, were worried about their Canadian relative Tiferet Lapidot, 23, who was at the music festival near the Gaza border that was attacked by Hamas terrorists Oct. 7.

Some 260 people were killed at that festival. As of Oct. 14, more than 1,300 Israelis had been killed from the surprise Hamas attack and thousands more wounded.

The Israeli government, using geolocating technology, determined Lapidot’s phone was in Gaza.

Tuesday morning the Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly confirmed that Tiferet had died. While technically not a Canadian citizen, because her parents are Canadians and she would have been eligible for Canadian citizenship if they’d filed the requisite paperwork, Joly’s office said the federal government is counting Lapidot’s death as a Canadian death. It is believed she was taken hostage during the Hamas attacks at the Nova music festival and was killed in captivity.

Zlotnick’s family had last heard that she was hiding in a bush from the rampaging terrorists, who were senselessly cutting people down as they ran away. She was not found in the area by the Israelis.

Lapidot’s father, Ohad, released a video asking the Canadian government to find his daughter, saying her family cannot sleep. The other Canadians confirmed dead are: 21-year-old Netta Epstein, 22-year-old Shir Georgy, 22-year-old Ben Mizrachi, 33-year-old Alexandre Look and 33-year-old Adi Vital-Kaploun. n