Oct. 7 victim Shani Gabay was buried with another woman in error; family thought she was abducted

The brother of Shani Gabay, a woman who was killed by Hamas terrorists at the Supernova rave on October 7, reveals that she was initially buried by mistake together with another victim, leading the family to think for weeks that she had been kidnapped, before investigators managed by chance to identify the error.

Speaking to the Ynet news site, Aviel Gabay reveals gruesome details about his sister’s death that led to the error. He recounts how her distinct necklace and advanced DNA testing led to the family getting a belated closure, and expresses anger over the mishap.

Gabay’s death was publicly confirmed 47 days after she went missing.

CONTENT WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS

Aviel Gabay says Shani managed to escape several attacks at the festival with gunshot injuries, before she and several others hid in an abandoned ambulance. That ambulance was then hit by an RPG fired by Hamas terrorists, killing them.

She then went missing, and her family got no information about where she was, Aviel Gabay tells Ynet. Assuming she had been kidnapped to Gaza, the family became active in the forums of families of hostages and missing.

Then, one day, officials knocked on their door, he says. “They admitted they had made a big mistake and that they had buried Shani on the first week of the war together with another young woman, whom Shani hadn’t even known.

“I understood from the cops that they had found a charred necklace shaped like a half-moon, about a month after the murder, checked it for DNA and found a high concentration of DNA matching Shani’s,” he says.

“They also found a low concentration of DNA belonging to another woman on the necklace. They contacted the other family, asking them to open up the grave. The family agreed — and we are very grateful for that — and they then took the body they found in the grave for a CT test, and discovered two skulls. A dentist then carried out an examination on the two girls, and clearly found that there were teeth belonging to Shani.

“When they buried her for the first time, they didn’t do thorough and comprehensive checks like we would have expected them to do. Probably, as a result of the RPG missile, the ambulance burned and both bodies were found attached to one another,” he says, adding that the family was then finally able to bury Shani.

“Our feeling is that there was a giant failure,” says Aviel. “I am angry at whomever checked the bodies and was responsible for the burial. Someone was negligent. I know they did hard work and saw horrors that make it hard to sleep, but still — when burying a body, I expect there to be not 100%, but a million-percent certainty that you know who is being buried. It is unacceptable that they buried a burnt body and a dentist didn’t conduct the elementary check.

“Had the necklace not been found… we would have continued to believe she was kidnapped and missing,” he says, adding that authorities must ensure no other such cases have occurred.

Police comment that “the Israel Police shared the immense grief of the Gabay family and regrets the distress” caused to its members.