THE grandmother of a heroic British Israeli soldier who sacrificed his life to save dozens of others revealed he died while catching Hamas grenades.
Aner Shapiro, 22, lost his life during the brutal October 7 Hamas music festival massacre, as he stood before partygoers and caught seven deadly explosives with his bare hands.
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Aner Shapiro, 22, lost his life while saving dozens of others at the Supernova music festival massacre on October 7Credit: Sky
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His grandmother spoke out on his heroic actions this eveningCredit: Sky
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Aner stood at the entrance of the shelter and caught seven grenades that Hamas had thrown at himCredit: Sky
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Revellers were seen fleeing the music festival after Hamas launched a savage attackCredit: TWITTER
His heartbroken grandmother, Yamima Ben-Menahem spoke to Sky News about the loss of her brave grandson who sacrificed himself to save dozens of lives.
She explained that Aner and his friend, who is feared to have been taken hostage by Hamas militants, were trying to escape the Supernova festival as alarms sounded and missiles hurtled towards them from the sky.
The pair allegedly fled to a shelter, where they were met with the terrified faces of around 30 other festivalgoers.
“First of all he calmed them down, he said the army was only half an hour away and he was sure that everything was going to be okay,” said the devastated grandmother.
“Everybody was grateful he took leadership, he was a natural leader wherever he was,” she added.
When armed Hamas gunmen approached the shelter, Yamima explained how courageous Amer put himself in the firing line, blocking the entrance to the crowded hideaway.
She said: “When they [Hamas] started throwing grenades into the shelter, he said ‘I’m going to throw them back and if I miss one you do the rest of the work”.”
“He stood there and threw back one grenade after the other”.
The fearless soldier had managed to throw back at least seven grenades before the eighth exploded in his hands.
After Aner was blown up during his selfless act of bravery, the family had no idea what he he had done, and the role he had played in the lives of those who survived.
“First day we didn’t know anything we were just looking for him in the hospitals, we thought perhaps he was wounded, we didn’t know about his heroic, empty handed battle against the terrorists,” Yamima said.
Then just three days after the catastrophic surprise attack, survivors began calling the Shapiro family to find out who their protector was.
“One after the other they said he saved our lives and told us his story of how he stood there,” the grandmother recalled.
A survivor of the horror, Agam, took to Facebook to post a tribute to the man who saved her life.
“Aner Shapiro… saved our lives and he deserves a a medal of honor for being an angel who guarded us,” she wrote.
But this wasn’t the only tragedy that struck the family that day, as Yamima said Amer’s close friend Hersh Goldberg was thrown into the back of car by Hamas fighters and taken into Gaza.
She shared her hopes that the hostages are being given sufficient medical aid and good living conditions which she said “might be reasonable for Hamas to do because there are going to be negotiations.
“But even if the price is high, I think Israel has always been willing to pay a high price for citizens and for its soldiers,” she added.
Before the gunmen left the slaughter site, they allegedly went into the shelter and shot everybody they possibly could.
“Miraculously a few people survived,” said Yamima, “but only those who were not injured severely “.
As the family process the loss of their loved one, Yamima said the traumatic ordeal took her back to the Yom Kippur war.
Also known as the Ramadan War, the armed conflict was fought between the Arabs and Israeli’s from October 6 to October 25, 1993.
“To make the same mistake after 50 years, not being ready is a terrible thing, but in Yom Kippur we pulled ourselves together and that’s what we’re going to do now,” she said with confidence.
But amid her hopes for Israel to emerge victorious against the cruel war imposed by Hamas on October 7, she worries that the situation may only be “the beginning of a bigger event that extends beyond the borders of Israel”.
The Nova music festival was the first target of the Hamas terrorists as they paraglided across the border and unleashed terror on unsuspecting festival-goers on October 7.
Horrified rescuers found 260 bodies after the fanatics cut power at the site and opened fire.
The terror group also killed babies and burned entire families alive in several villages, including Kfar Aza and Be’eri where some infants were reportedly found beheaded.
More than two weeks on, Israel faces the brutal task of identifying hundreds of burned and mutilated bodies, including babies.
Read more on the Irish Sun
A makeshift mortuary set up at a military base sees an army of forensic and dental experts and medics, working around the clock to identify the dead.
The team has identified almost 800 bodies so far, with 688 released to families for burial.
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The 22-year-old was an British-Israeli solider who his grandmother described as ‘good natured’ and ‘gifted’Credit: Sky
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Shocking drone footage shows the aftermath of the festival attack that left 260 deadCredit: Telegram
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Footage from the festival showed terrified revellers fleeing Hamas terroristsCredit: Twitter
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Some Hamas militants swooped into Israel on hang glidersCredit: Twitter
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