A British citizen feared kidnapped by Hamas militants to Gaza mentioned he was making an attempt to evacuate folks on a quad bike in a final determined voice message despatched as gunmen stormed the Israeli competition the place he was working.
Jake Marlowe, 26, a carpenter by commerce, was employed as a safety guard on the Nova music competition simply six kilometres east of Gazawhich was in full swing Saturday when Hamas launched the largest assault on Israel in a long time.
He’s amongst dozens of competition attendees who’re lacking, kidnapped or presumed deadmultiple witnesses and relations advised The Unbiased. On Sunday night time, Israel’s search and rescue company mentioned greater than 260 folks had died.
“He final spoke to his mom at 4.30am UK time, saying he noticed rockets [fired from Gaza] and that he even filmed it,” Daniel Aboudy, a pal of Mr Marlowe, advised The Unbiased from London. “Then 45 minutes later they spoke briefly however since then his telephone hasn’t rung.”
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He added: “One other pal forwarded a voice message from Jake and his pal, as they have been advised to evacuate.”
Within the voice message, Mr Marlowe mentioned he and a pal, who he named as Shlomi, have been desperately making an attempt to get folks to security.
“Me and Shlomi are proper by Gaza, bro,” he mentioned, based on a transcript of the voice message shared with The Unbiased.
“We’re seeing it in entrance of our eyes, we’re rounding up the folks from the social gathering now, we’re on an ATV [quad bike] and we’re telling everybody to get the f*** outta there.”
Israel’s embassy to the UK confirmed Mr Marlowe is lacking in an announcement launched on Saturday. Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli ambassador to Britain, earlier advised Sky Information a British citizen was in Gaza however she didn’t identify the person.
His mom, Lisa, advised the Jewish Information he was offering safety at a celebration and she or he final heard from her son by way of textual content message at 5.30am UK time (7.30am native).
“At about 5.30am, he texted to say, ‘sign very dangerous, all the things OK, will hold you up to date I promise you,’ and that he loves me,” she mentioned.
“I don’t know what we’re speculated to be doing. I’ve acquired folks in Israel phoning the house guard command, others speaking to others, everybody’s simply making an attempt to assist as a lot as they will.”
Mr Aboudy added: “His mum is in a large state of shock. The second she discovered, she gave me a missed name at 1pm yesterday. We’ve spoken to the Dwelling Entrance Command in Israel after which the Ministry of Overseas Affairs however up to now we don’t know something.”
The 26-year-old is feared to be amongst dozens of people who find themselves lacking from the competition and will have been taken to Gaza by Hamas, who blew up a border fence and stormed Israel within the early hours of Saturday by way of land, sea and air. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu responded by declaring the nation was now “at warfare”.
On Sunday, one video confirmed the mutilated physique of 1 girl, recognized as German tattoo artist Shani Louk by her pals, being paraded round in her underwear round Gaza. It’s believed she had been attending the identical out of doors music competition.
Israeli navy officers advised The Unbiased the assault “ was utterly unprecedented” and so they have been fearful for the lives of the hostages. In addition they mentioned that they had no confirmed numbers and have been engaged on their protected return.