Australian grandmother confirmed dead in Hamas attacks
The first Australian victim in the devastating Hamas attacks in Israel has been confirmed as a Sydney-born grandmother.
Galit Carbone, 66, was found outside her home in a small Israel community, 5km from the Gaza Strip, after being killed in a "senseless act of violence".
The Carbone's, along with the Australian Jewish community, are "heartbroken" over her untimely death.
Galit's cousin Julian Cappe and his wife Lisa, who live in Rose Bay, told the Herald Sun that the family in Israel were in “a state of numb shock” as they tried to put the pieces together of her horrifying final moments.
“Over the last few days they’ve just gone through all the ranges of emotion, from hearing what happened to thinking that she’s been a prisoner to hearing confirmation that she was killed,” he said.
Mr Cappe said the family’s grief had been magnified by the brutal nature her death.
“The idea that terrorists could walk into such a peaceful place and find an elderly, a 66 year old lady, and other elderly people and gun them down in cold blood. It’s just devastating to feel that such a thing could happen,” he said.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said she was “devastated” by the news.
“This is heartbreaking news this morning for the family of (Ms Carbone), her community here in Australia … our hearts absolutely go out to her,” she told 7News.
“I’m devastated for the people who knew her, but also the broader Jewish Australian community."
“We’ve got brothers and sisters of the Jewish religion around our country who are suffering greatly from what is a brutal, violent, abhorrent and completely unjustified act of terrorism against their country and their citizens.
“What’s happened here is a senseless act of violence, that will get more violent, and the Australian government condemns it in the strongest possible terms.”
After being born and raised in Sydney, Galit Carbone decided to relocate to raise her children, as she moved to Israel where she was working as a librarian.
Image credits: Courtesy of the Carbone family