Trump must do more to help hostages, says family of Briton killed on Oct 7

Yahoo

13-05-2025

Donald Trump, the US president, should not focus his rescue efforts solely on American hostages, the father of a British-Israeli man killed on Oct 7 has said.
Aner Shapira, 22, died during a battle with Hamas fighters outside the Nova musical festival while he sheltered with 26 other young Israelis.
Despite being unarmed and dressed in just a T-shirt and sandals, Mr Shapira, an off-duty soldier, fought off the terrorists for over 30 minutes by throwing out seven live grenades they had tossed into the bomb shelter he was hiding in.
An eighth device fatally wounded him.
His parents' renewed plea for the return of all Israeli hostages comes after the release of Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old US citizen, who was freed following direct talks between US officials and Hamas, controversially leaving Israel out of the process.
Credit: Telegram/@southfirstresponders
Asked whether he trusted Mr Trump more than Israel's leaders to bring about the return of the hostages, Mr Shapira's father Moshe, 54, said: 'The Americans have the ability to rescue people. Sadly, it's not enough to rescue non-American citizens.
'I would have liked to see Trump bring us more hostages. The one government that brings back the hostages, that's the one that should get the credit.'
Pressed on whether he believed Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, would secure the release of Israelis held in Gaza, he said: 'We hope. We are begging to see results. The most important thing now is to bring the hostages back.
'I believe that he'll be convinced that this is the wish of the Israeli people. We are a nation that searches for peace and life, not death.'
Aner Shapira grew up in the quiet south Jerusalem neighbourhood of Talpiot. He was a keen pianist who recorded his own music in the hope of being a professional musician – often singing about social justice and unity between people.
'He always took a stand', his mother Shira, 50, said. 'If he saw something was not right he felt it was his business to make it better.'
When he was in the city's centre, Moshe recalled, he would ask for the names of police officers searching African immigrants for their permits – quizzing them on whether they only stopped them because they were black.
Mr Shapira was off duty from his elite combat unit on that fateful Saturday in October.
His parents first heard the news about their son's acts from the two people who fled the shelter thanks to his heroism.
'We got a phone call from a female survivor who said: 'It's because of him that I'm alive. He's a hero',' Moshe said.
Days later, they received a call from the father of another survivor, who said Mr Shapira had thrown out grenades from the shelter. 'He said: 'Thanks to [Aner] my son is alive'.'
However, it was not until video footage emerged that the Shapiras' friends believed the incredible story was true.
'They didn't believe us', Shira said. 'When the videos went viral people told us how amazed they were by what he did. We said: 'We told you!' But they said: 'We didn't believe you'.'
In three-hour-long audio footage recorded from the shelter by a woman killed by Hamas, people sheltering described Aner as a 'fighter', Shira said.
At one moment, she said, Mr Shapira threw out an unexploded RPG shell from the shelter and people said: 'That is our protector.'
Speaking following the launch of an album of Mr Shapira's unreleased songs to celebrate what would have been his 24th birthday, Shira added: 'In the last hour of his life, he chose to be the man like he believed everyone should be: to save lives and care for others that he didn't even know.'
The album is called Looking for Love and can be streamed on YouTube.
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