When Hamas attacked Israel early on Saturday morning, Ilan Troen received a call from his daughter Deborah Matias, an American citizen living in Israel. Fighters were circling her home where she was hiding with her husband Shlomi Matias and their 16-year-old son Rotem.
Not long after, Rotem messaged that his parents had been shot and killed and he lay injured and hidden. Ilan and family messaged him in the hours that followed until he was rescued by Israeli military.
Ilan tells the BBC his daughter and her husband “created a life of light and vibrancy”.
