British man killed in Hamas attack in Israel: Family

LONDON: A British man who was serving in the Israeli army died in the attack by Hamas militants, his family said on Sunday, as another man was reported missing.

Nathanel Young, 20, “was killed on the Gaza border yesterday” a family Facebook post said.

Young, who was originally from north London, had been living in accommodation for Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers in Raanana, north of Tel Aviv, the Jewish News added.

A second British national “is in Gaza” following the assault by Hamas, the country’s ambassador to Britain said.

“I know there is one British citizen who is in Gaza at the moment,” Tzipi Hotovely told Sky News, without clarifying if he had been abducted.

“The Israeli government is doing everything we can to help those who are held hostage and every citizen who is taken is returned,” she said.

The ambassador did not name the missing man but the mother of Jake Marlowe, 26, who moved to Israel from Britain two years ago, said her son had not been heard from since the attack.

She said he had been providing security at the rave party in the desert near Kibbutz Reim close to the Gaza border that was attacked.

“He was doing security at this rave yesterday and called me at 4:30 am to say all these rockets were flying over,” his mother, who gave her name as Lisa, told the Jewish News.

“Then, at about 5:30 am, he texted to say ‘signal very bad, everything OK, will keep you updated I promise you’, and that he loves me,” she said.

“He is missing, we don’t know for sure that he is taken hostage or dead or in a hospital,” added an embassy spokesperson.

Britain’s Foreign Office said it was “in contact with - and assisting - the families of several individuals” following the escalation in violence.