Montreal man desperate for news about cousin who went missing after Israel attacks

A Canadian family is worried about the safety of their relative, Tiferet Lapidot, who they believe was likely taken hostage during the Hamas attacks at a music festival in Israel last weekend.

Lapidot was among the thousands of young people who were attending Tribe of Nova, an outdoor electronic music festival, in southern Israel, when Hamas militants broke through a border fence and opened fire on festivalgoers. Some were taken hostage. 

Her cousin, Oran Zlotnik, who lives in Montreal, said her family is growing more desperate as each day passes without news about her whereabouts.

"She phoned her mom, saying, 'I'm hiding in a bush. There are shootings around me. I'm trying to save myself,' and then the conversation was cut off," Zlotnik told CTV News.

The following day, on Sunday, her phone was geo-located across the border in Gaza, after the family reached out to the Israeli government for assistance locating her, he said.

"The thing we're hoping for is that she's kidnapped," he said, adding that her body was not among the roughly 250 bodies that were recovered from the festival site in the aftermath of the attack by Hamas, a group declared as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government. 

Tiferet Lapidot. (Source: Oran Zlotnik)

The news is hard to swallow for her family in Canada and in Israel. Tuesday is Lapidot's 23rd birthday.

Her uncle, Harel Lapidot, said he is a Canadian citizen and so is her father. Instead of celebrating her birthday, everyone is in the dark about how she is doing.

"A birthday is supposed to be the brightest day .. the time that everybody's getting around you and we're separated from her. She is there, we don't know what's going on with her," he said in an interview from Israel.

"Instead of being a happy day, it's a black day which we don't know anything about what's going on with her. What she went through, we're just hearing [about] the horrifying actions of Hamas took place … they were just hunting those kids at a party."

This image from video provided by South First Responders shows charred and damaged cars along a desert road after an attack by Hamas militants at the Tribe of Nova Trance music festival near Kibbutz Re'im in southern Israel, Oct. 7, 2023. (South First Responders via AP)

CANADA TO HELP CANADIANS LEAVE ISRAEL

Her father, Ohad Lapidot, released a video since she went missing pleading with the Canadian government to help him find her.

"We can't sleep at night," he said in the recording.

"The Canadian government doesn't seem to recognize the moral obligation to help my daughter. Please, I need your help in demanding the prime minister of Canada to save my daughter from the hands of Hamas."

On Tuesday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joy announced it was planning to offer assistance to Canadians — and their family members — leaving Tel Aviv, Israel, "in the coming days."

"The Canadian government will be offering these flights to Canadian citizens, their spouses, and their children; as well as Canadian permanent residents, their spouses and their children," Joly said. "We are also working on additional options for those who cannot reach the airport in Tel Aviv."

On Monday, a Montreal family said their 33-year-old son, Alexandre Look, was also killed while attending the music festival during the Hamas incursion.

A second Canadian citizen, 22-year-old Ben Mizrachi from Vancouver, was also confirmed killed during the attack at the festival.