Deborah and Shlomi Matias, 50 and 49: Died shielding their son

Deborah Matias, 50, an American-Israeli citizen, and Shlomi Matias, 49, both musicians, were murdered in their home in Kibbutz Holit on October 7, 2023, as they were protecting their son, Rotem, with their body.

Rotem, 16, was shot but survived, while his sisters, Shaked and Shir, were hiding out elsewhere and were unharmed.

“Mom and Dad, they sacrificed their lives to save me,” Rotem told CNN in an interview after he was released from the hospital.

He said he asked to keep the bullet that was removed from his stomach during surgery: “I wanted to just keep it as a memory to never forget them and remember that even though it was the hardest and lowest point in my life, I found… some hope that maybe I could live and share the memories, and how I saw my parents, with other people… they will live on in memories and in stories.”

Deborah’s father, Ilan Troen, a professor at Brandeis University, said they found out about Deborah and Shlomi’s deaths via text messages from Rotem, who hid for hours until he could be rescued.

Troen told NPR that his daughter was a singer and his son-in-law taught music at a mixed Arab and Jewish high school.

“These are people that were committed to the good life for everybody, and yet it is they who paid the price for hatred,” Troen said.

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