Marlowe family confirm their son Jake is amongst dead at music festival

After five days of agonising wait, the Marlowe family in London got the news they were dreading — their beloved son, Jake, was confirmed as one of the deaths at the Supernova music festival in Kibbtz Re’im, murdered by Hamas terrorists.

Jake, who was 26, had been working as a carpenter in Israel when he was asked to help with security at the southern Israel kibbutz. As his mother, Lisa, told Jewish News on Sunday, Jake signed off his last message to her, telling her that he loved her.

Speaking to Jewish News, Jake’s mother said: “He was doing security at this rave yesterday and called me at 4.30am to say all these rockets were flying over.

“Then, at about 5.30am, he texted to say, ‘signal very bad, everything OK, will keep you updated I promise you,’ and that he loved me”.

A former JFS pupil and member of BBYO, Jake lived in Ma’alot in the north of Israel, and had made aliya two years ago. His friends posted his ID card online to raise awareness that he was missing after armed terrorists began indiscriminately shooting at the partygoers.

Early on Saturday morning he was sending messages to friends in the UK, telling them that he was doing whatever he could to take people to safety as rockets begin to fall. He was believed to have been trying to evacuate people on a quad bike.

One of his close friends, Londoner Daniel Aboudy, told media outlets that Jake had called his mother at 4.30 am UK time, telling her “that he had seen rockets fired from Gaza and that he had even filmed [the raid].” Around 45 minutes later Jake and his mother spoke briefly, but there was no communication after that. He was reported missing, and feared to be among the 260 killed at the festival site.

The family said they were “heartbroken at the crushing news”. A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in London said that Jake’s death had been confirmed, and that repatriation plans were in place so that a funeral and shiva could be held.