Alina Vaisberg, 17: High school student who loved TikTok

Alina Vaisberg, 17, a high school student from Beersheba, was murdered by Hamas terrorists on the Zikim Beach on October 7.

She was spending time there with a group of friends including her new boyfriend, Shahaf Krief, also 17, whom she hadn’t told her father about. He called her repeatedly all morning trying to figure out where she was, once he realized that she was not at her friend’s house.

When the rockets started flying, the couple hid in a public bathroom on the beach along with other teens — including Or Tasa — before they realized that Hamas terrorists were infiltrating the beach and shooting civilians. Krief managed to send a short video from the bathroom to his friends, where loud gunfire is heard just nearby.

Relatives who went to the bathroom on the beach to search for their loved ones found only pools of blood, the bodies of terrorists and a flip-flop that belonged to Alina. A week later, the bodies of both Alina and Shahaf and all of the friends they were with at the beach were identified and they were declared dead. Nobody is thought to have made it out of that bathroom alive. At least 19 Israelis are believed to have been murdered on the beach on October 7.

Alina is survived by her father, Aleks, and older sister, Yasmin.

Teachers at her school said in a statement that they “promise to remember you forever, beautiful girl, smart, opinionated and sharp, who achieved everything you wanted! A girl who loved life and lived it to her last minute.”

Yael Schneider, head of a youth group Alina was a part of since she was a child, recalled her as “intelligent, sharp, sweet, leading every student group with abundant charisma and a mischievous smile.”

On Instagram, her friend Liraz Vaknin wrote, “My Ali was the girl with the most light and joy that you’ll ever meet, there’s no way you would miss her in any room she entered.”

“She was the most beautiful flower in the field and now she’s been snatched away and she’s the most beautiful angel in heaven.”

Her sister Yasmin told i24 news during the period that Alina was missing that she was just a regular high schooler living life.

“She’s very lively, she likes going out with her friends, she has a TikTok account and she posts just regular things a 17-year-old should be doing, going to parties, going to school with her friends, and just being home, doing her homework,” said Yasmin. “She’s just like a regular 17-year-old, and she just wanted to go to the beach and have a little swim.”

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