Eleven days after Hamas’s terrorist onslaught began, rescue workers found the lifeless bodies of Noya Dan, a 12-year-old Israeli girl with autism, and her grandmother Carmela Dan, officials said on Thursday.
Residents of Kibbutz Kissufim and Kibbutz Nir Oz, respectively, the two had been assumed kidnapped by the Hamas terrorist organization and brought over the border to the Gaza Strip. But on Oct. 18, their bodies were found near the border fence, Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster reported.
Noya’s plight went viral on social media on Sunday after the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s X (formerly Twitter) account enlisted the help of British author J.K. Rowling in an effort to help bring her home.
“Noya is sensitive, kind, funny and a massive Harry Potter fan,” Jerusalem wrote to the famed author, sharing a photo of the girl in a Harry Potter costume.
Rowling reposted the photo, stressing to her 14 million followers that kidnapping children is “despicable and wholly unjustifiable.
“For obvious reasons, this picture has hit home with me. May Noya and all hostages taken by Hamas be returned soon, safely, to their families,” wrote Rowling.
On Thursday, the ministry said, “We are devastated to announce that Noya and her grandmother’s bodies were found yesterday. Thank you, J.K. Rowling, for sharing her story with the hope that she would come home. Our hearts are broken. May their memory be a blessing.”
