After 48 days, authorities admitted to 'a big mistake'

Oct. 7 victim Shani Gabay was buried with stranger; family thought she was abducted

DNA test on piece of jewelry discovered weeks after Hamas massacre led to discovery that missing woman was mistakenly buried in same grave as another woman a week after the assault

Shani Gabay (Courtesy)
Shani Gabay (Courtesy)

The remains of Shani Gabay, who was killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, were mistakenly buried with those of another woman, her brother said Sunday, raising questions about the thoroughness of the DNA checks conducted on charred and mutilated bodies, and whether others thought to be missing may have suffered the same fate.

For weeks following the massacres, Gabay’s family was under the mistaken impression that she had been kidnapped and was captive in Gaza, after authorities were unable to find any of her remains. Only the chance discovery of a distinctive piece of jewelry eventually led Gabay’s loved ones to her.

On October 7, Gabay attended the Supernova rave, where Hamas terrorists slaughtered more than 350 partygoers during their rampage through southern Israel, in which they massacred a total of some 1,200 people and seized more than 240 hostages.

The assault at the music festival began with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Gabay was in her car at the time, and pulled over to find cover. She found a field shelter near Kibbutz Alumim, a short distance from the music festival, where she hid, not knowing that terrorists were gunning down partygoers under the cover of rockets.

Gabay was shot but managed to flee the besieged rocket shelter, escaping into an ambulance with several other partygoers. Hamas terrorists later attacked the vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade, setting it on fire and killing all those inside.

But her family didn’t know any of the details surrounding her final moments. In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster on October 9, they said that the last time they heard from her was around 9 a.m. the morning of the attack, when she said she had been shot in the leg and was hiding from terrorists in some sort of structure, but was unable to describe where it was.

Shani Gabay (Courtesy)

Faced with a lack of news about his daughter’s whereabouts, Gabay’s father took matters into his own hands, Aviel Gabay told Ynet on Sunday, and spent days searching for any sign of her in the fields around the site of the music festival.

“He didn’t come home for five days, he just looked for her, from morning until night,” Aviel Gabay said, explaining that the lack of evidence led them to assume that she had been taken hostage in Gaza along with some 240 other abductees.

“We concluded that Shani was missing, there was no sign of life from her, and as the days passed and she wasn’t found among the bodies, we began to believe that she had been kidnapped,” he said. “We became involved in the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, we held meetings in Israel and around the world… we believed that Shani was taken hostage and wondered what she was going through in captivity.”

WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS

Then, 48 days after the deadly assault in southern Israel, the family answered the door to find a social worker, a doctor, and military and police officials.

“As soon as we saw them all, we understood what they were going to tell us,” Gabay said. “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.”

The police explained to the family that around a month after October 7, they had discovered a charred necklace shaped like a half-moon, buried in the ruins of the Supernova festival.

Burnt cars are left behind at the site of the attack three days earlier by Palestinian terrorists on the Supernova desert music near Kibbutz Reim in the Negev desert in southern Israel, on October 10, 2023. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

When the necklace was examined, it was found to have a high concentration of Gabay’s DNA on it.

Also on the necklace was a lower concentration of another woman’s DNA. So they contacted that woman’s family, asking for permission to open up her grave.

“The family agreed — and we are very grateful for that — and they took the body they found in the grave for a CT test, and discovered two skulls,” Gabay recounted. “A dentist then examined the two skulls and clearly identified teeth belonging to Shani.”

“When they buried her for the first time, they didn’t do the thorough and comprehensive checks we would have expected them to do,” he added, and explained that as a result of the RPG missile, the ambulance the girls were hiding in was burned, and the bodies of the two girls were found attached to one another, leading those who discovered them to believe it was one body.

Mourners attend the funeral of Shani Gabay in the northern Israeli town of Yokne’am, Thursday, November 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Having received the answers they had been searching for, the family was able to bury Shani, just days before what would have been her 26th birthday.

“We feel that there was a colossal failure,” Aviel told Ynet. “I’m angry with whoever checked the bodies and was responsible for the [first] burial. Someone was negligent.

“I know they did difficult work and saw horrors that make it hard to sleep, and yet 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 an elementary check.

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

In a statement, the Israel Police said that it “shares the immense grief of the Gabay family and regrets the distress” caused to its members.

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