Family of Israeli Canadian woman killed by Hamas heartbroken, outraged

Warning: This story contains distressing details.

In the early moments thatHamasmilitants were storming onto their communal farm outside of the Gaza Strip last weekend, 33-year-old Adi Vital-Kaploun a dual IsraeliCanadian citizen with closeties to Ottawa was sheltering in her family's home with her two sons, a four-year-oldand a 4-month-old.

She told her father and her husband to stay where they were, and not to come to them.

It was an act that "certainly saved their lives," said her cousin-in-law, Aaron Smith, in a Thursday morning interview with CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning.

"And howevershe was able to convince the terrorists that murdered her to take her kids to her neighbour she saved their lives as well. She's a hero."

Smith said the details, contained in an article published Wednesday in the Globe and Mail, are graphic.

Family friendsMoshiko Bengiatand Dina Zaslacksi told the Globe thatVital-Kaplounwas shot in front of her children, and that the four-year-oldremembers everything. Later, when Hamas militantsentered the neighbour's house, they dragged her into the living room and thrust Vital-Kaploun'schildren at her, asking if she knew them.

Smith told CBCthe neighbour and the children were then used as human shields"to convince other friends and family in the kibbutz to come out" of hiding.

Chosen as a propaganda tool

The neighbourand children were takenthrough the Negev Deserttoward Gaza Strip and released.Smith saidthey were "chosen as this propaganda tool" to show Hamas's good will.

Grainy video footage from Hamas shows the neighbour andVital-Kaploun's two children near a fence close to Gaza, and Hamas fighters walking away from them.Conflicting information fromsome media outletsdescribed them as amother and her two children beingreleased by Hamas, or a woman and two childrenbeingreleased.

Vital-Kaploun's family is outraged.

"There's no good will that these murderous terrorists have. That's propaganda," Smith said."Adi is the mother of those children. Adi is dead.

"The kids went through just unimaginable suffering, but are miraculously with us and are safe with their father.One of the children was shot, had shrapnel in his leg and shot in the foot. That doesn't sound like people that are trying to save women and children," he said.

LISTEN | Aaron Smith's full interview with Ottawa Morning:

Ottawa Morning11:28Ottawa family of woman killed in Hamas-Israel conflict speaks about their loss

33-year-old Adi Vital-Kaploun called Israel her home, and thats where she died in an attack by Hamas leaving behind two young children.

Burial to take place in Israel

Smith saidVital-Kaploun's family in Ottawa and Israel are in constant contact, and that they're "as close as a family can be."

She spent her summers in Ottawa with her cousins and family, attending summer camps and travelling the country "a normal Canadian life for a lovely Israeli girl," Smith said.

"There's no words to describe how our family's doing. It's just hard. It's unimaginable, the pain and suffering that we're going through and all our people are going through."

Vital-Kaplounwill be buried in Israel, but with the Canadian government currently trying to airlift its citizens out, her family in Ottawa don't know how they can attend.

"We all want to be there," Smith told CBC. "We all want to be there always, to be with our family, to be in our own land, to celebrate our Jewishness. Some of us contemplated [going], but it's hard to know if you go there how you get back. It's hard to know how you willingly fly into a war zone. But we're all there with her in spirit and in our minds."

Andrea Freedman, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, told Ottawa Morning Thursday that what the family is enduring is "absolutely heartbreaking," and that they are one family among1,300 dealing with the same grief.

WATCH | Jewish federationdelivers statement on woman with Ottawa tieskilled in Israel:

Ottawa Jewish federation issues statement on Ottawa woman killed in Israel

12 months ago

Duration 7:38

Jewish Federation of Ottawa CEO Andrea Freedman delivers a statement on behalf of the family of a woman who was killed during the conflict in Israel.

Mayor spoke to family

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said Wednesday that he hadbeen in touch with a family in the city who'dlost a loved one to the conflict in Israel.

"It breaks my heart to see what's happening there," Sutcliffe told reporters during a scrum atcity hall. "My thoughts are with all of the victims and all of the families in Ottawa who have been affected by what's been happening."

'It hits very close to home,' Sutcliffe says of Ottawa family who lost loved one in Israel

12 months ago

Duration 0:43

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he'd spoken with the family of someone who was killed in the Hamas attacks in Israel.

Sutcliffelater posted to X, formerly known as Twitter,that Vital-Kaploun was the granddaughter of longtime ByWard Market shopowner Irving Rivers.

The Irving Rivers store, locatedat the intersection of York Streetand ByWard Market Square, has been in business for more than 70 years.

Two Canadians are confirmed dead, and a third is presumed dead as a result of the conflict, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Mlanie Joly.

Global Affairs Canada has not confirmed Vital-Kaploun's identity.

Currently, 4,227 Canadians are registeredin Israel with the federalgovernment's registry ofCanadians abroad, and another 475 are registered in the Palestinian territories, according to Global Affairs Canada.

Joly's comments came after the Palestinian militant group Hamas staged an attack on Israel last weekend, firing rockets, killing civilians and taking hostages.

The attack prompted Israel to declare war on Hamas with attacks of its own. Israel has also ordered what it has described as a complete siege of Gaza, blocking everything from electricity and fuel to food and water from entering.