Israeli Government/Twitter
The bodies of an American-Israeli grandma and her Harry Potter-loving granddaughter, whose plight went viral thanks in part to J.K. Rowling, were found near the Israel-Gaza border on Wednesday after they were feared kidnapped by Hamas, Israeli officials said.
It’s unclear how long the bodies of 80-year-old Carmela Dan, the “matriarch” of her family, and her 12-year-old granddaughter Noya had been there for—but the discovery crushed relatives’ hopes that the pair may still be alive and held hostage in Gaza.
Noya had gone to her grandma’s house in Kibbutz Nir Oz, about three miles from the Gaza border, on Oct. 6 to stay the night—something relatives said she did often. Hamas militants flooded across the border the next morning, however, burning much of it to the ground and kidnapping more than a quarter of its residents, officials said.