Rotem Neumann, a Portuguese woman who went missing in Israel, was found dead on Tuesday, October 10, according to her cousin Tomer Neumann. For the Associated Press. The Portuguese-Israeli citizen is 25 years old and was among the participants of the music festival attacked by Hamas. She has been missing since Saturday, October 7.
Of Sephardic descent and Portuguese nationality, Rotem Newman was a student of behavioral science and lived in Tel Aviv. On Saturday, he took part in a music festival near the Gaza Strip. Tomer Newman told The Associated Press that Rotum had called his parents from the festival when he heard gunshots. Rockets. Since then, they have not heard from Rotam again.
Tomer Newman told PÚBLICO on Monday that warning sirens were heard in Israel on Saturday morning Rockets. “At first, we thought it was the first fight in a few days and it’s something we’re more or less used to,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going on, but we know there are many terrorists [membros do Hamas] It first struck a music festival a few kilometers from Gaza, entering Israel. After some time, they realized that it was Rotam’s party.
In this interview with PÚBLICO, Tomer Neumann said that his cousin did not meet the terrorists at the festival grounds and fled north with several friends, not knowing that they would encounter armed men. “They met the terrorists, diverted and realized they were ambushed. Then they hid in a shelter on the surface, created to protect people from airstrikes, but not from others,” he said.
Rotam told a friend who was staying at the venue to meet her at a shelter where they could be safe. The friend said he was going to the shelter, but an hour later, when asked how things were there, he had no answer.
On Saturday, from Gaza, the Palestinian group Hamas breached security restrictions imposed by Israel and carried out attacks in occupied villages and towns across southern Israel. They managed to kidnap dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers. More than 1000 people have already died, mainly civilians.