The story of how a young brother and sister were able to survive the Hamas massacre on October 7 by hiding in a closet has been captivating Israel this week. 

The story emerged following the murder of 52 people on Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the October 7 slaughter. The kibbutz is three miles from the Gaza Strip. 

Among those slain by Hamas are dozens of children and babies, some of whom were decapitated by Hamas terrorists. The story of Michael and Amalya Idan left many in tears, including the phone operator who helped save them.  

Their saga begins when their father, Roy Idan, an Israeli news and video photographer, goes outside his home to capture footage of the Hamas terrorists paragliding into Israel. About 70 Hamas terrorists soon storm the agricultural kibbutz of 750 people.

A few minutes later, a Hamas terrorist enters Idan’s home, murdering his wife, Smadar, in front of their children. The youngest daughter, Avigail, 4, along with her brother, Michael, 9, and sister, Amalya, 6, run outside to their father. 

Idan lifts up his youngest daughter and Hamas terrorists shoot at him, critically injuring him. Avigail is then abducted and taken into Gaza. The two older children run back inside into the bomb shelter.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 13, Idan’s mother, Liza, describes how she called Smadar, the mother, and Amalya answers the phone instead. “Amalya told me, ‘Mommy died, daddy died, and Avigail died.’ I asked her if she had seen a movie and she again told me the same answer and hung up.” 

The older brother, Michael, in the meantime calls the police and tells them that his parents have been shot. The police forward the call to an MDA medical emergency operator named Linoy Al-Ezra, who calls Michael back and then over the phone provides safety instructions to the young boy. 

“We received the call around 8 in the morning. Michael knew to tell me exactly where he was located,” Ms. Al-Ezra says in an interview with Israel’s Channel 13. “He said he’s at home and that terrorists shot his parents. They are bleeding and not responding.” 

Ms. Al-Ezra  proceeds to ask him to lock the door to the home. “I could hear these little footsteps running to the door,” she relates. “He locked the door and then I heard him call, ‘Amalya, come here.’” 

“‘Who’s Amalya?’ I ask him on the phone. He responds: ‘Amalya’s my little sister and I’m watching over her.’”

The MDA operator tells the 9-year-old to take hold of Amalya’s hand and run into the bomb shelter and to hide in a closet, staying as quiet as possible until help arrives. “Do not leave the bomb shelter,” the MDA operator tells him. 

Ms. Al-Ezra wants to stay on the phone with Michael but she has to field countless more calls from people who needed help, including other Israelis, both young and old, who were wounded by Hamas terrorists and are waiting to be rescued. 

“I told him to call every time he was scared and to hold Amalya’s hand. Michael is the hero here, he saved his little sister,” Ms. Al-Ezra says. “He listened to everything I told him to do, never crying, and always watching out for his sister.”

Michael and Amalya wait 14 hours in the dark bomb shelter, without food and water, until they are found and rescued by their father’s brother, Amit, who arrives with IDF soldiers. 

When Ms. Al-Ezra hangs up the phone, she doesn’t know what would be the children’s fate. “I told them,” she says, “not to open the door to any bad people.” She finds out a few days later when she meets with them and the family for a Channel 13 news report. 

Liza Idan tells Channel 13 that as the daughter of Holocaust survivors, she is familiar with these situations from stories of her parents in Eastern Europe. “I heard the stories about the burnings, rapes, and murders from my mother, my aunt, who went through the Holocaust,” she says. 

“It’s unbelievable what my grandchildren had to go through,” Ms. Idan says. 

Since the Hamas massacre, Idan hadn’t been heard from. On Wednesday, his body was finally found and identified. He will be buried Friday next to his wife in southern Israel. Seven persons, including Smadar and Roy’s 4-year-old sister as well as their neighbors, were abducted by Hamas from Kfar Aza. Idan’s family is hoping against all odds that Avigail is alive and will be returned to them.