UNITED IN GRIEF
‘My Jake died here…it breaks my heart into a million pieces,’ says mum of victim at vigil a year on from Hamas massacre
Lisa has visited the desert festival site five times in the past year to feel close to her lost boy
A BRITISH couple poured out their heartbreak — and fury — as they joined families of October 7 victims at a remembrance vigil in Israel yesterday.
Michael and Lisa Marlowe were the only Britons among the relatives at a gathering marking the first anniversary of the Hamas horror.
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And their contrasting emotions laid bare the agony of hundreds of families struggling to process their pain a year on from the outrage which destroyed their lives.
Mum Lisa fought back tears as she recalled her 26-year-old son Jake — a happy-go-lucky boy “living his best life” who had everything to look forward to.
Lisa from Potters Bar, Herts, said: “I’m standing at the spot where my son spoke to me for the last time exactly a year ago and it breaks my heart into a million pieces.
“But I had to come here because this is the place where I feel closest to him now — it’s become sacred to me.
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“It was 4.30 in the morning, UK time, when I last spoke to him.
“He just said, ‘There’s a lot of rockets and crazy stuff going on mum but I’ll be OK. I’ll call you later — I love you’.
“But he never called again and that was the last time I ever spoke to him. Four days later it was confirmed he was among the dead and was killed trying to help others to get away from the terrorists.
“That was just what he was like — he’d do anything for anyone.”
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Lisa said she’d visited the desert festival site five times in the past year to feel close to her lost boy.
Hamas hurled grenades at us like game of Russian Roulette… I heard last gasp of boyfriend as bodies piled up around me
And she has formed a close bond with other victims’ relatives, who she hugged amid emotional scenes.
Carpenter and musician Jake was commemorated by a touching hand-painted stone next to his festival memorial’s candle yesterday which read simply, “Love You Son”.
But his dad Michael’s sorrow gave way to anger as he tended the memorial to the son killed by beasts he called “Hamas scum”.
The couple spoke to The Sun at the dawn observance yesterday — next to the spot where Jake was killed by a volley of nine bullets.
Exactly a year earlier, he had been working at the Negev Desert festival site as a part-time unarmed security assistant.
It was 4.30am in the morning, UK time, when I last spoke to him. He just said, ‘There’s a lot of rockets and crazy stuff going on mum but I’ll be OK. I’ll call you later — I love you’
Lisa Marlowe, mum of British Hamas victim Jake
Carefree young revellers had been raving to a high-energy dance track by Pixel & Space Cat when rockets and terrorists aboard paragliders filled the sky at 6.29am.
Consumed by rage
Yesterday, the same track was played on a sound stage then cut short at exactly 6.29am — before an overcome woman’s screams cut through the silence.
Dad Michael, 53, told how his life has been destroyed by Jake’s death as Hamas thugs from Gaza killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251.
But he has also found himself consumed by rage towards his son’s savage killers — and British Foreign Office mandarins whom he says have offered no support.
This was a festival dedicated to peace where young people came to celebrate life
Jake's dad Michael
Michael told The Sun yesterday: “We haven’t lost Jake — he was taken from us by evil Hamas scum.
“This was a festival dedicated to peace where young people came to celebrate life.
“But these worthless, subhuman animals from Gaza came to kill them. They won’t talk or negotiate — all they want to do is kill.
“A year on, we are still in terrible pain and I can’t tell you how much I miss my boy. I miss everything about him — his smile, his sense of humour, everything.
"He had met the beautiful girl of his dreams in Israel and told me he wanted to marry her.
“He had gone to work with security on the site to earn extra cash as he prepared for a new chapter in his life.
“He told me about his plans to propose to her in Jerusalem in December but his life ended on October 7 and that never happened.
“Now his girlfriend is heartbroken like the rest of us — all of our lives have been decimated by Hamas.”
'Everything changed for us'
Michael and Lisa revealed their most heartbreaking task has been explaining to their autistic daughter Natasha, 25, that her big brother will never come home.
Michael said: “She was very close to Jake and still struggles with the fact that she won’t see him again.
“Everything changed for all of us on October 7.”
The vigil at the Nova Music Festival site at Re’im, just three miles from Gaza, was the biggest memorial event staged yesterday.
Hundreds of armed Hamas savages had stormed the festival and killed 365 people.
Many of their families began gathering before dawn yesterday to remember lost loved ones and console each other amid heartbreaking scenes.
Each of the festival victims was commemorated by a photograph above memorials adorned with flickering flames and stones.
Families — many in T-shirts with pictures of their lost loved ones — wept and hugged each other tightly in the pre-dawn glow.
The sad commemoration was punctuated by the boom of outgoing Israeli artillery rounds blasting into Gaza and the rattle of heavy machine gun fire in the distance.
A massive security operation was launched to protect the site.
An Apache helicopter gunship hovered overhead, backed by drones scouring potential threats, and troops and police manned checkpoints leading to the venue.
A year on, we are still in terrible pain and I can’t tell you how much I miss my boy. I miss everything about him
Jake's dad Michael
The huge security presence was stepped up further to shield the arrival of Israeli president Isaac Herzog, who appeared on the stroke of 6.29am to console families.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu last night spoke of his determination to bring home hostages.
He said in a TV address: “We will not give up any single one of them.” He said “a mountain of bereavement” had cast a shadow over Israel, before insisting: “Believe me, victory is the light.”
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At a memorial in Jerusalem to victims of the October 7 attack, Mr Netanyahu said earlier: “On this day, on this place, and in many other places in our land, we remember our fallen, our hostages — whom we are obliged to bring home — and our heroes who fell for the defence of the homeland and the country.”
After lighting candles he added: “We went through a terrible massacre a year ago, and we stood up as a people, like lions.”
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President Herzog said “far too many” were lost in the attacks. He declared: “All those who were killed, their memories will be engraved on the hearts of this nation.
And in a statement released by the White House, US President Joe Biden slammed the “unspeakable brutality” of the terror attacks and “the beauty of the lives that were stolen that day”.
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‘BAN IRAN’S AGENTS’
By Noa Hoffman
LABOUR MPs yesterday urged Sir Keir Starmer to honour his vow to crack down on Iranian agents radicalising Brits.
They joined Tories telling him to proscribe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The IRGC is the main supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, both banned in the UK.
Its agents spread jihadi propaganda in the West.
Labour MP Jon Pearce, said: “Tehran’s army of fanatical antisemites is a threat to Israel. But its tentacles stretch way beyond the region — to Ukraine, where its missiles aid Putin’s slaughter of civilians, and to our shores where the IRGC plots to murder enemies on the streets of the UK.”
Labour MP Mike Tapp said: “By banning the IRGC Britain can strike a blow against Iranian-sponsored terror.”
In opposition, Sir Keir vowed to proscribe the IRGC if he won the election.
But yesterday he dodged questions over when he will fulfill his promise.
Marking the aniversary of Hamas’ October 7 slaughter, the PM added: “Fifteen British citizens were brutally slain that day, another has since died in captivity.
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