Baruch Dayan HaEmes: Mor Shamli, widow of Alon Shamli who was murdered in the Egypt shooting three years ago, has died at the age of 35. Her death comes after more than three years of suffering, deep trauma and emotional torment following the terror attack in which she watched her husband killed in front of her.
The attack took place on 8 October 2023, the day after war broke out in the Gaza envelope, when a group of Israeli tourists visited Pompey's Pillar, a tourist site in Alexandria, Egypt. An Egyptian policeman, part of the local security forces, opened fire at close range on the Israeli civilians.
The shooting killed Alon Shamli Hy"d (34), Amnon Betzalel Hy"d (64), Hagai Efrat Hy"d (83), and the Egyptian guide Sayed Kamal al-Hawalqa. Mor, who was beside her husband when the shots were fired, was forced to sit next to him for nearly an hour as he bled before help arrived. Only some 12 hours later, at a local Egyptian hospital, she was given the official notification of his death.
Since the tragedy and the return of her husband's body to Israel, Mor struggled with deep psychological trauma and a grief that paralysed her life. Family members and her parents, Ilan and Shoshi Cohen, spoke with broken hearts about the years since the attack, saying she never managed to return to her former life.
According to them, she felt since the attack like a "living dead", her soul shattered and left behind at that site in Alexandria. Mor continued to live but found it nearly impossible to bear the pain of the loss, and alongside her deep grief she devoted her time to preserving the memory of her husband Alon, a well-known and beloved figure in his work as a sports coach and educator.
Her uncle, Nachum Israeli, wrote moving and painful words of farewell expressing the magnitude of the devastation the family has experienced since that cursed day in Egypt. In his words he described how the bullet that struck Alon in fact struck Mor's soul as well, and expressed hope that now, after the long years of unbearable suffering and pain, she will find the rest and peace that were taken from her.
"For three years now you have not been yourself. Not at peace, not present, not you. Now --- peace for you. You died already then, three years ago! When that bullet tore through the heart of your beloved Alon, it tore through yours as well. But now peace for you," the uncle wrote.
"In all our hearts too a huge crack opened three years ago, and now it has grown, widened and deepened. But at least now peace for you. We remain here to lick the wounds, to heal the breaks, to preserve life. And may at least now there be peace for you. Give us a sign, so we know, now peace for you? Mor Shamli, my beloved niece."
