On Monday, Canadian-Israeli peace activist Vivian Silver, who went missing on October 7, was found dead and killed in the brutal Hamas attack on Israel.
Silver's family believed Hamas militants had taken her hostage in southern Israel.
Silver Confirmed Dead
Silver's son, Yonatan Zeigen, confirmed his mother's death and said that her mother's remains had been found earlier at Kibbutz Be'eri but were only identified recently, more than five weeks after the October 7 attack. Close relatives and the Israeli government also confirmed her death.
"It is with deep sadness that the Government of Canada has learned that Canadian-Israeli citizen Vivian Silver is deceased," Global Affairs Canada said.
The organization contacted Silver's family and noted they were providing assistance. However, the family still has no response.
Yonatan said he called his mother after he heard that Hamas gunmen attacked civilians near her home in Be'eri Kibbutz on October 7. He was able to reach his mother, and they immediately switched to texting through WhatsApp after hearing screams and gunshots on the call.
He said that they stopped talking so the gunmen would not hear their conversation. He also said that his mother updated him when the gunmen were inside the house and, later on, the house was burned to the ground.
Silver's other son, Chen Zeigen, said that the Israeli government contacted them after the attack to inform them it had geolocated Silver's phone in Gaza.
After the call, Silver's family was hopeful that their mother was still alive and held hostage along with more than 200 others in Gaza.
Idit Shamir, Israel's consul general in Toronto, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Silver's death was distressing. She extended her heart to the family and friends of Silver and said her memory may be a blessing.
Who is Vivian Silver?
Silver was raised in Winnipeg and relocated to Israel in the 1970s as she wanted to be a part of a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Silver was an active member of different humanitarian groups. She became an activist who helped initiate and run several aid organizations.
Silver was the founder of Women Wage Peace, an organization that advocates for the ceasefire of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and encourages women to be part of the peace.
She was also the co-CEO of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development, an Arab-Jewish organization that promotes social change, and a former board member for the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem.
Her son said her mother always believed people were equal without their ideologies.
Silver also organized a march for peace on the Jordan River in the West Bank in 2017. The demonstration was about denouncing the Israeli attack that killed Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
During the Israel-Hamas conflict, she would still drive sick Palestinians from Gaza to hospitals in Israel at the age of 74.
