Hours after a mother told her relatives they were in a kibbutz shelter and “doing OK”, she was murdered by terrorists along with her husband and three children.
Tamar Kedem messaged friends in Australia at 2.45pm on Saturday to say they were all inside a bunker inside their home on Kibbutz Nir-oz in southern Israel.
Kedem family 4
The Kedem family (Credit: Facebook)
“Hi guys, we got into the shelter in our house, we’re all doing okay,” the message said. One hour later, Tamar stopped responding to messages. Shortly afterwards, Hamas terrorists entered the shelter and executed them.
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Shahar, Arbel, and Omer Kedem (Credit: Facebook)
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett has led tributes to Tamar and Yonatan Kedem, twin daughters Shahar and Arbel, 6, and son Omer, 4. Bennett, who on Saturday showed up for reserve duty, posted to X/Twitter: “An entire family murdered in cold blood. Look at their happy faces. Their love. “All of them murdered by Palestinian terrorists at Nir-oz kibbutz. Just because they’re Jews.”
An entire family murdered in cold blood.
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) October 8, 2023
Kedem family: Father Jonathan, mother Tamar, 6-year-old girls Shachar and Arbel, and 4-year-old boy Omer.
Look at their happy faces.
Their love.
All of them murdered by Palestinian terrorists at Nir-oz kibbutz.
Just because they’re… pic.twitter.com/Y8yvGtHUDi
According to Tamar’s Facebook page, which is packed with pictures of her family, she grew up in Jerusalem and received her MA in Management and Public Policy at Ben-Gurion University.
She was a community leader and women’s rights activist, working as an adviser to the Ministry of the Interior in the Department of Regional Cooperation and Clusters.
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Tamar Kedem with daughters, Shahar and Arbel (Credit: Facebook)
She was also a former programme leader at the Cadets for Municipal Service, a program aimed to provide students with the necessary training to deal with complex municipal issues in under-served communities in Israel.
Just three days before their murder, Tamar posted pictures to Facebook of her family enjoying Succot celebrations.
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Tamar Kedem with friends during Succot, on October 3, 2023 (Credit: Facebook)
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Tamar sent WhatsApp messages from the bunker inside their home to reassure friends in Australia that they family was unharmed.
Tamar’s husband, Yonatan, was an operations manager and wheat grower on the kibbutz, which has a population of around 400 people and is approximately 1.8 miles away from the border with Gaza.
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The Kedem family celebrate the girls' fifth birthday (Credit: Facebook)
The Jewish State’s official X/Twitter account posted the selfie of the smiling family Sunday night, with the caption “An entire family wiped out by Hamas terrorists. There are no words. May their memory be a blessing.”
Tamar, Yonatan and their children Shachar, Arbel, Omer.
— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) October 8, 2023
An entire family wiped out by Hamas terrorists.
There are no words 💔
May their memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/CoFeSJ9NPJ
More than 800 Israelis have been killed and kidnapped since Hamas launched a surprise attack by air, sea and land on Saturday morning, with over 2300 people wounded.
