Knesset Speaker Lights Menorah on Last Night of Chanukah with Survivors of October 7 Hamas Massacre

Jerusalem, 14 December, 2023 (TPS) -- A special ceremony was held in the Knesset Thursday night for the lighting of the menorah on the eighth and final night of Chanukah. In the Chagall Lounge, members of Israel’s security and rescue forces were assembled to join as the Speaker of the Knesset, MK Amir Ohana (wearing tie and jacket lighting the menorah), lit the menorah with some very special guests: a family of survivors of the October 7 Hamas massacre and an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldier who lost his leg during the ongoing war in Gaza.

IDF Lieutenant Yonatan Ben Hamo is a combat engineering officer who lost his leg in combat during the war in Gaza. Hamo pledged to return to the military in spite of this and to take the IDF’s course to become a company commander.

The children were Koren (12) and Shai (8) Taasa, who were joined by their mother Sabine Taasa. The family is from Netiv HaAsara, located just to the north of Gaza, which was one of the Israeli towns devastated in the Hamas attack.

They can be seen in a video of the horrors committed during the barbaric Hamas attack of October 7. This is the video that was released by the IDF Spokesman’s office and was met by protests by Hamas supporters when screened in cities such as Los Angeles.

In the video, their father, Gil, can be seen saving their lives by leaping on a grenade and absorbing the forces of the explosion, sacrificing his own life. The terrorists then shot Gil several times in front of his sons to make sure that he was killed.

After this, the children were held by a Hamas terrorist and can be seen crying while he drinks cola straight out of their family’s refrigerator.

The family’s oldest son, Or, was at the Zikim beach just north of Gaza the day of the attack. He and some friends hid inside an outdoor shelter meant to protect people from terrorist rocket attacks, where they were murdered by Hamas terrorists who attacked from the sea.

During the attack, Koren was wounded by shrapnel in his leg and Shai was wounded in one eye.