Israel-Hamas war: Professor was on phone with daughter when she was killed

A professor at Brandeis University said he was speaking with his daughter on the telephone when she was killed while shielding her son from gunfire as Hamas militants attacked Israel over the weekend.

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Ilan Troen, a professor emeritus at the Waltham, Massachusetts, university, said that Deborah Matias and her husband, Schlomi Matias, were killed by Hamas gunfire, WFXT-TV reported. His 16-year-old grandson, Rotem Matias, briefly hid under his mother’s body before he was discovered and taken to shelter, according to the television station.

“We were on the phone with Deborah as she was killed,” Troen told CNN on Monday from Be’er Sheva, Israel.

She was among at least 11 U.S. citizens who have been confirmed as killed since Hamas militants launched attacks from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Saturday.

“We were on the phone the entire day with our son, our grandson, Rotem, as he lay first under her body and then found a place to escape under a blanket and in a laundry,” Troen told the cable news outlet.

Troen told CNN that he was texting with his grandson, who was told “not to speak” on the telephone.

“He was told not to speak and therefore he was to hide and use texting,” Troen said. “By the time he was rescued, he had 4% left in his battery.”

Troen said his grandson is recovering from a gunshot wound that first hit his daughter, WFXT reported.

“The brunt of the shot was borne by his mother,” Troen told CNN. “He’s 16, tough, resilient, he survived this, he’ll survive more but the trauma of this is going to last his lifetime.”

Troen called his daughter a “child of light and life.”

“She, rather than becoming a scientist or a physician, she said to me one day, ‘Dad, I have to do music, because it’s in my soul,’” Troen told CNN.

Deborah Matias attended the Berkeley College of Music in Boston and the Rimon School of Music in Tel Aviv, where she met her husband.

Brandeis University President Ron Liebowitz said that school officials and students were “deeply saddened” by Troen’s loss, WFXT reported.

“Ilan, a Brandeis alumnus, and his family have long been treasured members of the Brandeis community, and we hold Ilan, his wife Carol, and his entire family in our thoughts,” Liebowitz said in a statement.

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The Hamas attack on Israel A bicycle was targeted and two young Palestinian militants were killed near the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel on October 7, 2023 in Gaza City, Gaza. The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a missile attack on Israel today, with fighters simultaneously crossing the border from Gaza. Israel has declared a state of war. (Getty Images/Getty Images)