Hamas butchered the British members of my family… I’ve saved a grave next to them for my father because I fear he’ll not leave Gaza alive: British family’s heart-breaking grief after Oct 7 attack

A family who buried a British mother and her two teenage girls after they were massacred by Hamas have told how they have kept a grave next to them for their hostage father because they fear he will not leave Gaza alive.

Osnat Matalon says she is increasingly afraid for the life of her brother Eli, 51, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on the same day his wife Lianne, 48, and daughters Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, were killed.

“When we buried them in our village cemetery, we didn't know if we would have another burial,” says Osnat, 54, who lives in a Moshav (or gated community) half an hour outside Tel Aviv.

'We have reserved a spot for him. We hope that it will not be used. But we also know that time is running out for the hostages.

Bristol-born Lianne, who fell in love with 51-year-old Eli Shirabi while volunteering at Kibbutz Be'eri – one of the worst hit locations on October 7 – was initially believed to have been taken hostage with the girls.

But over the course of three grueling weeks, Osnat received the call that first Lianne, then Yahel, and finally Noiya, had all been murdered on the same day.

The last message Lianne's family received was a panicked WhatsApp saying she could hear terrorists “shooting and shouting 'Die Israel'.”

Pathologists later determined that the three females had died while hugging each other, but their bodies were so badly damaged that it was initially impossible to identify them.

The graves were all designed in collaboration with Lianne's British family, who came by for the 'stone laying' 30 days after the funeral. Each of the graves reads: 'Your British family will miss you and always keep you in our hearts.'

The British side of the family also had holograms of Lianne, Noiya and Yahel made for the graves where they smiled, and special plaques for the graves that read 'always loved – never forgotten'.

Osnat's other brother Yosi, 53, was also kidnapped from Kibbutz Be'eri on the same day. Miraculously, his wife Nira and three children managed to escape from the terrorists. Yosi's teenage daughter, Yuval's friend Ofir Angel, 17, was kidnapped with him but released earlier this month as part of the hostage crisis for Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli art therapist Osnat spoke out as hopes revived for a new humanitarian pause and the release of more hostages.

This follows pressure on Israel after its forces accidentally shot three of their own troops kidnapped in Gaza, and amid growing criticism over the number of civilians killed by brutal bombing in the built-up Gaza Strip.

Hamas has also upped the ante by releasing two new hostage videos.

Actors including Jerry Seinfeld, Debra Messing and Britain's Gregg Sulkin have also visited Israel in recent days to remind the world of the hostage plight, with the families of those kidnapped increasingly concerned for the safety of their loved ones.

“All families feel the urgency of the danger the hostages are now in,” said Osnat's husband, landscape architect Raz, 53.

'Everyone supports the army – and we have lost many soldiers in this war – but we are now also afraid that the war is getting too close to the kidnapped people.

Now that the war is moving further south, there are fewer places for Hamas to flee to. We know from the released hostages that the military sometimes bombed places near their residences and that they often had to move from place to place.

'Our army has two purposes; to eliminate Hamas and bring the hostages home.

The first thing that needs to be done is the hostages; If you look at this as a chess game that Israel is playing against Iran, they have taken our queen. We need our queen back.”

Osnat said there was both pain and joy when the first group of hostages were released; especially since they knew many of the other hostage families.

Israel has demanded the further releases of women, the elderly and the sick as part of a new hostage deal; it is unfortunately likely that Osnat will wait for her brothers for a while.

“We believe that there should be a deal because it seems like it would be impossible to save them through a military strike.

We ask all our friends in all countries of the world to support this idea and try to push for a deal to bring all the hostages home,” she pleads.

And she knows that even if she gets her brothers back safely, she will have to break the terrible news to Eli that his family has been murdered.

'I have two brothers with two different stories; different endings,” she says.

'It will be difficult for both of them. It's going to be so hard for Eli; his entire family is gone.

I can't even imagine what it will be like for him. But first we have to get him back and then we can help him mend the broken pieces of his heart.”