Harrowing accounts continued to emerge about the unprecedented attack by Hamas terrorists on Israel, including a couple who were killed three days before their planned engagement — and a family of five whose bodies were found in a tragic embrace.
Aviv Kutz, 54, was found embracing his wife, Livnat, 49, daughter, Rotem, 19, and sons Yonatan, 17, and Yiftach, 17, as they lay dead in a bed at their Kfar Aza home on Oct. 7, the day the terrorists invaded Israel, according to the Times of Israel.
“On the day they were murdered, we were supposed to visit them,” the children’s aunt, Adi Levy Salama, said of the family that had returned to Israel after living in Boston for several years.
“Aviv organized an annual kite festival along the fence with Gaza to show them that we just want to live in peace,” Salama told the outlet.
Livnat, a graphic designer who was about to turn 50, was born during the Yom Kippur War — the 1973 conflict that has been compared to the current crisis in terms of Israel’s intelligence failure.
Her husband was deputy director of a consulting firm and also worked in agriculture, the Times of Israel reported.
Rotem was an IDF soldier who trained new recruits, while Yonatan and Yiftach attended the Kfar Hayarok boarding school in Ramat Hasharon near Tel Aviv and played basketball in the Hapoel youth program.
“They were all amazing kids with huge hearts. They had their whole lives ahead of them,” their heartbroken aunt said.
Meanwhile, the lives of another couple from Kfar Aza — IDF officers Niral Zini, 31, and his girlfriend, Niv Raviv, 27 — were cut short right before their planned engagement, Ynet reported.
Zini planned to propose to Raviv on Oct. 10, but the ring he planned to present to her was found in the burned house at the kibbutz, according to the outlet.
On the day of the invasion, Zini sent his family the message: “They’re here. I’m putting the phone down — pray.”
He grasped a knife as he held the door to the shelter while Raviv hid under a bed, according to the outlet.
The couple remained missing until Friday, when the family received the shattering news that their bodies had been found after the massacre.
On Saturday, hundreds of mourners attended the tragic couple’s funerals in Netanya.
Zini and Raviv were both in the military reserves — he a major and she a captain.
On Oct. 10, 2015, Zini was injured during an operational activity in Hebron — and the couple celebrated his survival with a special meal on the same date ever since, according to the outlet.
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He planned to begin studying law to help soldiers who were physically and mentally injured. Raviv was studying to become a clinical psychologist.
“That’s how they were,” Shahar Schechter, the partner of Gil, Niv’s older brother, told Ynet. “Always thought of the other, always wanted to help. Give of themselves, loved people so much. … only give and help those who need it.
Another family survived the harrowing ordeal, according to an IDF video that captured soldiers of a canine unit coming to the rescue of a terrified woman and her son.
Members of the special forces Oketz Unit are seen reassuring the pair after they spent hours holed up in their home.
“It’s the IDF, it’s the IDF,” a soldier is heard saying in Hebrew. “How are you? Everything is OK. Happy holiday, happy holiday. Are you with someone here?”
“With my son,” the woman answers from behind a door.
