Idan family releases children’s police call after parents’ murder on October 7

“We are children, both of our parents just died.”

The Idan family released a recording of two children calling police after their parents were murdered in Kfar Aza during the Hamas-led October 7 attack, ahead of its third anniversary.

The call, made at around 7 a.m., captured a nine-year-old boy and his six-year-old sister seeking help as they sheltered in their home’s safe room. Their younger sister, Avigail, was abducted to Gaza.

After the boy told the dispatcher that both parents had died, she asked when it had happened and where the children were.

“Now,” he replied, before identifying their location as Kfar Aza.

The dispatcher then questioned whether the call was a prank. “Are you lying?” she asked.

“No, we’re not lying,” the boy said. His sister could be heard urging him to tell the dispatcher it was true.

Asked what had happened, the boy described someone entering the house and shooting their mother. He said their father then went outside with them and was shot by another gunman, prompting the children to run back into the house.

“Yes, and maybe our sister died with Dad, too,” the girl said.

The dispatcher instructed the children to lock themselves in a room and stay inside. The boy told her they were already in the safe room and that the attacker had not reached them.

“Listen, stay inside the house,” the dispatcher said. “Don’t leave.”

Michael and Amalia survived by hiding for hours in a closet in their home’s safe room before being rescued. Following the murder of their parents, Roee and Smadar Idan, they were taken in by their aunt, Liron Mor, and her husband, Zoli, who went on to raise all three siblings alongside their own children.

Avigail, who was three at the time of the attack, fled to the neighboring Brodutch family’s home and was abducted alongside Hagar Brodutch and her three children. She turned four in captivity and was released on November 26, 2023, after 50 days in Gaza, as part of a temporary ceasefire and hostage-release deal. She returned to Israel and was reunited with her surviving siblings.