Hamas attack: Israeli-Canadian citizen who ‘fought for peace all her life’ is confirmed dead

Vivian Silver has been missing since the Hamas attack on October 7. The death of a 74-year-old Israeli-Canadian peace activist has been confirmed, an Israeli diplomat said Monday in Toronto. “Tragic news: Vivian Silver, a Canadian-Israeli peace activist previously believed to be a hostage, has been confirmed dead, murdered by Hamas militants at Kibbutz Beeri,” Israeli Consul General Idit Shamir said on social network X (formerly Twitter).

“Canada mourns its loss,” Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly wrote, also on X, describing Vivian Silver as “a proud Israeli-Canadian woman who spent her life advocating for peace.”

“They’re in the house”

Vivian Silver’s son, Yonatan Zeigen, 35, who lives in Tel Aviv, explained a few days after the attack that he was talking to her on the phone during the attack on the kibbutz. On Saturday 7 October at around 11am (8am GMT) “we were on the phone and she texted me: they are in the house “,” he explained to AFP. – Nothing since then.

“She fights for justice and is an amazing mother and grandmother,” he added. Vivian Silver organized relief programs for Gazans and helped them receive treatment in Israel.

She has received numerous awards for her commitment to peace and in 2014 helped found the Israeli feminist and pacifist movement Women Wage Peace, which has more than 45,000 members.

According to the latest information provided by Israeli authorities, about 240 people were kidnapped and taken to Gaza as hostages during the Hamas offensive, which killed about 1,200 people, most of them Israeli civilians. Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip killed 11,240 people, mostly civilians, including 4,630 children, according to an unverifiable report from the Hamas Health Ministry.