Image source, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Vivian Silver helped Gazans obtain medical treatment in Israel
An Israeli-Canadian peace activist feared to be being held hostage in Gaza has been confirmed dead.
Vivian Silver, 74, lived near the Israeli border with Gaza in Kibbutz Be’eri – which Hamas attacked during the October 7 attacks.
Her remains had previously been found in her home, but were not officially identified until five weeks later.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie described Silver as a “lifelong pacifist.”
“Canada mourns its loss,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ms. Silver, who was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was one of the best-known advocates for peace with the Palestinians in Israel. Her movement, Women Make Peace, was founded to pressure the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a peace agreement to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Her son Yonatan Zegen told the BBC that she kept busy after her retirement, continuing her work as an activist, and holding meetings just days before the Hamas attacks.
Her family believed that Hamas had kidnapped her and held her in Gaza for the past five weeks.
Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last week, Mr. Zegen said that although they knew that Ms. Silver’s home had been burned to the ground during the Hamas attack, and that a body had been found at the time, there was “no evidence of a struggle or conflict.” bullets,” which led the family to believe that she had been kidnapped.
More about the war between Israel and Gaza
He said that his mother told him that she loved him, and said, “They are inside the house, it is time to stop joking and say goodbye.”
He said: “I replied that I love you, mom. I have no words, I am with you.”
“Then you write: ‘I feel for you.’ And then it’s over, and that’s the final message.”
In response to a question about what his mother would have said about everything that happened, Yonatan said: “This is the result of war. And not striving for peace, and this is what happens.”
“It’s very overwhelming but not completely surprising. It’s not possible to live in a state of war for long and now it’s exploding. It’s exploding.”
Gershon Baskin, a friend of Silver’s, described her as a “happy, optimistic person.”
“She was someone who would light up a room whenever she walked in,” he said. CBC. “She had a moral compass that guided the direction of many people who followed her.”
More than 100 members of Ms. Silver’s kibbutz were killed in the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said that all hostages must be released before any temporary truce is agreed upon.
Israel began striking Gaza after surprise Hamas attacks in which 1,200 people were killed. The Hamas-run Health Ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then.
WATCH: Yonatan Zegen’s mother, Vivian Silver, texted her son to tell her that her house had been attacked
“Internet practitioner. Social media maven. Certified zombieaholic. Lifelong communicator.”