Dr Daniel Levi’s tragic sacrifice as Hamas terrorists struck

A doctor who chose to stay behind as the Hamas onslaught began made the ultimate sacrifice for doing so, as incredible tales emerge from the horror.

When the Hamas rockets began exploding over the southern Israel sky, Dr Daniel Levi didn’t hesitate.

The Peru-born doctor knew what he had to do.

It involved some tough personal decisions but they came instinctively.

From his Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza Strip, where the terrorists’ killing spree was playing out, he told his family to get themselves to safety.

He would stay behind.

“Daniel, who was a doctor, insisted that his family flee without him while he stayed to help and treat the wounded. Hamas terrorists murdered him,” an Israeli Foreign ministry spokesman said.

The ministry described him as a “a hero murdered for saving others”.

“He was in the shelter, but because he was a doctor, they called him to the hospital or a medical centre to help the wounded, and there he was destroyed by the Hamas people,” family friend Ariel Segal said.

Dr Daniel Levi, from Peru, was killed after he stayed behind to help injured people.

Dr Levi’s wife and children managed to make it to Tel Aviv as the attacks intensified.

Officials in Peru scrambled to locate the doctor — communications with him were lost on Sunday — and his father made plans to fly to Israel to search for his son.

Before he could do so, the tragic news was confirmed.

“Let everyone know that you are a hero and you don’t deserve this,” a friend of Dr Levi’s posted online.

Family photos and personal items are scattered among the rumble of a destroyed house near the border with Gaza on October 11, 2023 in Be'eri, Israel. Picture: Getty

A relative thanked the public for their concern and those who helped look for him.

“On behalf of the family, I would like to thank all the people who spread the search message on their respective social networks and everyone who had knowledge of his whereabouts. A hug to everyone,” the relative’s post on social media read.

Elsewhere in Israel’s under siege villages, similar takes of bravery, heartbreak and terror are emerging.

Due to Inbal Lieberman (pictured), twenty five Hamas terrorists were taken out and the entire kibbutz was saved.

Desperate families, trying to stay together — and simply survive — took on the invading footmen in any and every way they could.

Inbar Lieberman led a group of residents to kill more than 24 militants while defending the kibbutz located near Sderot, just a kilometre from the Gaza Strip.

Lieberman, who has been part of the security detail in the region since December 2022, heard explosions early on Saturday local time when Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel.

Through her training, she knew at once this was no ordinary rocket attack, but the start of something more sinister.

Lieberman desperately rushed to open the armoury, and distributed guns to the 12-member security team and co-ordinated their decisive response amid the unfolding attack.

She placed her squad of kibbutzniks in strategic positions across the settlement and set up ambushes that caught the gunmen off guard. That move turned the tables on their mission to inflict mass casualties.

Lieberman killed five terrorists by herself, while the others gunned down 20 more over four hours as they turned Nir Am into an impenetrable fortress – while nearby kibbutz suffered heavy losses, Walla News reported.

Armoured troops eventually arrived at the kibbutz. Picture: Israeli Police

Ilit Paz, cultural co-ordinator at Nir Am, told the news outlet Israel Hayom: “It was amazing. My husband was part of the standby unit that worked to prevent more casualties.

“They heard the shots and made contact on their own with other members of the standby unit and with Inbar (Lieberman) — and they understood that they were told to be on standby.

“But Inbar made a decision not to wait and be jumped operationally. In fact, the fact that they did it early prevented dozens of casualties,” she added.

In other kibbutz, bloodsoaked homes are all that's left, their inhabitants abducted and their whereabouts unknown.

Maayan Zin agreed her two daughters could stay with their father Noam Elyakim for the holy holiday in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel close to the Gaza Strip.

Early on Saturday morning, Hamas terrorists stormed Elyakim’s home and took him, their girls Dafna, 15, Ella, 8, and his partner and her two children.

Ms Zin, 50, watched a live video of their bloody abduction on Elyakim’s partner’s Facebook that morning showing the terrorists tormenting the six hostages huddled on a mattress in captivity.

“I have not heard a word since, nothing, it’s been silent,” she said.

“Dafna, Ella, Noam …. I love you, I have hope to see you, I know that we will hug again.

“I know it might take some time but stay strong, do what those animals tell you to do so they do not harm you.”

Maayan Zin, Whose two daughters Dafna and Ella Elyakim have been taken captive by Hamas militants near Gaza. Pic Danielle Gusmaroli,

She found on a Telegram messaging app chat group run from Gaza of terrified Ella with a blood stained bandage on one hand.

“I was texting Noam (Elyakim) around 7am on Saturday when I heard Hamas had entered Nahal Oz, he said everyone was inside the bomb shelter and they were all OK,” she said.

“I asked if the little one was afraid, she always gets scared when she hears the sirens, he said ‘no’.

“After 9.15am that morning, the texts stopped. I’ve been messaging, nothing. Still each day I message …”

Originally published as Dr Daniel Levi’s tragic sacrifice as Hamas terrorists struck