EXCLUSIVE Missing British man, 26, last seen at dance festival stormed by Hamas gunmen left the UK for Israel because ‘he was worried about a rise in anti-Semitism’, his best friend reveals
- Jake Marlowe, 26, was working at a festival that was attacked by Hamas militants
- His current whereabouts are not know by embassy officials
- His best friend, Léa Sztemberg, said he left the UK over worries about the rise of anti-Semitism
A missing British man who last texted his mother about ‘rockets flying over’ a music festival near the Gaza Strip left the UK to live in Israel because of his worries about the rise of anti-Semitism, his best friend has revealed.
Jake Marlowe, 26, has not been heard from since Saturday morning after he was working as part of a security team at the festival near Re’im, a village close to the border with Gaza in the south of Israel.
The Israeli Embassy in London said that Jake, who is Jewish and has lived in the Israeli city of Ma’alot for the past two years, is currently ‘missing near Gaza’ following the attack on the festival by Hamas militants on Saturday.
An embassy source told MailOnline that they do not know whether he is dead or has been captured.
Jake’s best friend, Léa Sztemberg, exclusively told MailOnline that he left the UK two years ago for Israel over anxieties related to the rise of anti-Semitism.
Léa, a law student who met Jake three-and-a-half years ago, said: ‘Just before he went to live in Israel, he was really worried about the UK situation with the rise of anti-Semitism.
Jake Marlowe (pictured) was working as a security guard at a music festival that was attacked by Hamas militants
He has not been heard from since Saturday morning
‘He was thinking he should go to Israel because everything that was happening to him in the UK was a lot for him.’
Léa, a French-Jewish woman who splits her time between the UK and France, told MailOnline: ‘He was really interested in the history of Jewish culture.
She added: ‘He was obsessed with his DNA history and Jewish history, because he was really really searching for his identity.’
Her partner, Daniel Aboudy, told Sky News that his yearning for more knowledge about his Jewish heritage started during the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘He felt it was duty to trace back to his roots, and find his home that he felt he truly belonged to in Israel.’
‘He also had a desire to enlist in the Army at one point, but unfortunately wasn’t given the opportunity to do so.
‘He was very determined to fight for what we believed in as a Jewish people.’
Léa told MailOnline that she and Daniel, who have been close friends with Jake, who is from Potters Bar in North London, since they met, are extremely worried about him because he is a ‘protective’ person who prioritises other people’s safety over his own.
‘We were really worried, because we know that Jake is someone who is not scared to to give his life for another [person].’
‘I really can’t copy, I can’t sleep at night. All I’m doing in checking the news, checking social media, my TV’s on 24/7. I feel horrible.’
Léa Sztemberg (pictured, left) exclusively told MailOnline that Jake left the UK two years ago for Israel over anxieties related to the rise of anti-Semitism
Léa, a law student who first met Jake three-and-a-half years ago, said he was really interested in his own Jewish heritage
She added that his partner Shira, who asked not to be further identified, is also extremely worried about his safety.
Léa said that Shira was keeping Shabbat, a Jewish tradition of not working on rest days, in the north of Israel, far away from where Jake was working, and did not know about his disappearance until 6pm on Saturday evening.
Jake’s mother, Lisa, said she received a call in the early hours of the morning from him, telling her that the festival was under attack.
‘He was doing security at this rave and called me at 4.30am to say all these rockets were flying over,’ she said.
‘Then, at about 5.30am, he texted to say, ‘signal very bad, everything OK, will keep you updated I promise you,’ and that he loves me.’
Jake and his family aren’t the only Brits who have been terrorised by the unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas militants.
A family of British-Israeli citizens revealed they spent nine hours in hiding after being woken up by rocket fire in the early hours of Saturday morning in their homes, just one-and-a-half miles from Israel’s border with Gaza.
Jake texted his mother to inform her that missiles were flying overhead at the festival he was working at
Léa said Jake is a ‘protective’ person who prioritises other people’s safety over his own.
Jake grew up in Kenton, in North London, and moved to Israel two years ago
Jake’s partner, Shira, who asked not to be further identified, said she did not know he was missing until 6pm on Saturday evening
Deborah Mintz, originally from Romford, hid in a tiny room with her grandson Kai, and his parents, Aimee and Uriel Labban, both in their 30s.
The family’s house and cars were torched by Hamas fighters, while their pet dog was killed, the family said.
At one point, as smoke poured into their safe room, they were forced to lift Kai up to the ceiling to protect him from the fumes
The family was finally freed just before 3pm local time as Israeli Defence Forces arrived and escorted them to a nearby bomb shelter
Russell Langer, a policy researcher related to the family, told the Telegraph he learnt of their plight when they received a text message saying: ‘We are stuck. They came in and burnt our house’.
Langer told the newspaper: ‘Baby Kai appears to be okay, but [he is] a bit covered in soot,’ he said. ‘The house is burnt out, as are their cars.’
Meanwhile, British woman Charlotte, and her mum, were stuck in Tel Aviv as Hamas rockets rained down on the city.
‘We were outside when the missiles were directed at Tel Aviv and I have never heard anything so loud.’
Israeli festivalgoers run for their lives through the desert after being warned of an incoming rocket attack just as Hamas invaded the country on Saturday
Panic swept through the crowd who were partying in the north-western Negev desert, about 5 miles from the city of Ofakim.
People could be seen hurriedly packing their cars in a desperate effort to get away
Hamas claimed to have fired 5,000 rockets into Israel from the occupied Gaza Strip, setting off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
The pair are currently stuck in Tel Aviv in a hotel, and told Sky News they are in regular contact with the British embassy, which assured them it was doing everything it could to fly them home.
‘We’ve received very few updates whilst here [and] the streets are deserted and everything has been closed.’
She said she has an app that has been alerting her and her mum of incoming missiles, and woke up to 2,000 different notifications regarding strikes since Sunday morning.
The surprise attack began on Saturday morning after Hamas fighters blitzed into Israel on motorised paragliders during a lightning offensive, while thousands of rockets rained down across the south of the country.
Footage showed squads of Palestinians on suicide missions swooping over the border on the aircraft, spreading fear and chaos among cowering families below before landing and opening fire on Israeli civilians and soldiers alike.
Israelis could be heard shouting, running, and hurriedly getting into cars as they attempt to escape
Some could be seen scrambling for the safety of cars to get away from danger
Videos posted to social media appears to depict scenes of chaos in the sand
Fighters fired some 2,500 missiles into Israel from 7am UK time. As they rained down on major towns, and even as far as Tel Aviv nearly 50 miles away, fighters used explosives to break through the border fence.
Israel as since begun retaliating, striking Gaza and flattening residential buildings in massive explosions, including a 14-storey tower that was home to dozens of families.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today warned that Israel faces a ‘long and difficult war’ with Palestine, telling reporters after a meeting of the country’s security cabinet early on Sunday that it had now begun its ‘offensive phase.’
Netanyahu, 73, claimed that Israel has already destroyed the ‘vast majority of the enemy forces that infiltrated our territory.’
‘This is a necessity war. (Israel) wasn’t expecting this to happen (but) we need to make sure the infrastructure of terrorism is 100 per cent destroyed.’
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said last night in a post to X: ‘As the barbarity of today’s atrocities becomes clearer, we stand unequivocally with Israel.
Israeli civilians were purportedly taken off the street and driven back into Gaza
Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday. Pictured, people try to extinguish fire on cars following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, southern Israel
A woman in Tel Aviv picks her way through rubble late on Saturday
Dozens of rockets are fired by Palestinians towards Israel on Saturday night
‘This attack by Hamas is cowardly and depraved. We have expressed our full solidarity to [Benjamin Netanyahu] and will work with international partners in the next 24 hours to co-ordinate support.’
US President Joe Biden, meanwhile, said he ‘unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza’, and said ‘we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel’.
‘Terrorism is never justified. Israel has a right to defend itself and its people,’ he added.
The Israeli ambassador to the UK has said the country’s reality has ‘become a nightmare’ and said its military needs to defend its people.
Tzipi Hotovely told BBC Breakfast: ‘Israel is in a war that Hamas started yesterday. Calculated. Planned. Targeting Israelis, targeting civilians, targeting innocent children.
‘We saw Prime Minister Sunak, we saw President Biden yesterday, they’re supporting Israel’s right for self-defence, because we are in a reality that has become a nightmare.
‘We can’t do anything else… we need to protect our people.
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