Mor Shamli, whose husband Alon was murdered before her eyes in a shooting attack in Egypt on October 8, 2023, has died after more than three years of suffering. Her parents, Ilan and Shoshi Cohen, said: "We cannot comprehend it, and we ask that our privacy be respected. Since the tragedy in Egypt and the trauma she endured, she was living but dead. Her husband was murdered beside her, and she never recovered. Her soul was murdered there in Egypt, and today she has simply died before her time."
"Mor was murdered along with Alon in Egypt. She continued living, but she could not bear the pain and the loss of her husband, Alon," her parents said. "She had no desire to live. She was simply living but dead, until today, when she is no longer with us."
In January, Mor announced to her Instagram followers that she intended to end her life through assisted suicide in Switzerland. The announcement sparked a wave of false rumors that the procedure had already taken place and that she had died. In Instagram Stories posted that month, she explained the painful decision she had made and the feelings that had accompanied her since the attack, which took place just one day after the October 7 massacre in communities near the Gaza Strip.
"The pain is unbearable. You wouldn't believe how many tears the heart and eyes can produce," she wrote in January. "I am not alive, but not entirely dead either. I exist as though I am floating above life. Here, but not here. My life ended there in Egypt on October 8, 2023, when they murdered us. The bullet that struck Alon's heart struck mine too."
"My pain did not end with the gunshot. It began there and continued for another two years," she wrote. "I used that time to try to obtain at least a minimum of justice, but I failed. Our country failed in that. What I hope we managed to achieve, at least to some extent, was to make people know who you were and give you the honor you deserve. You touched so many people during your life, and now in death as well. You will not be forgotten because you were, and still are, a true angel, and everyone has something to learn from you. I am sorry if we did things that seemed grandiose when modesty defined your entire being. But every act of remembrance and every cause reflected something connected to you: contributing to the community, to people, to sports and to matters of the heart."
Mor and Alon Shamli during their trip to Egypt, which ended in a deadly terror attack
(Photo: Instagram)
She also apologized to those around her, thanked her loved ones and explained the reasons behind her decision. "I am sorry to everyone that for these past two years I have not been myself. Thank you to my wonderful family and Alon's family, who were always by my side, supporting and loving me even when I pushed you away. I was blessed with the most amazing parents. Every achievement of mine is thanks to you. Thank you to my beloved sisters, Shaked and Agam. Thank you to Alon's family, who always made me feel like a daughter and a sister. Thank you for bringing Alon into the world and making him the person he was. Thanks to you, I was blessed with the best husband and friend anyone could dream of."
"I am sorry that I am hurting everyone, that the suffering is being passed on to you. There are no words that can express how sorry I am. I hope you can understand and forgive me. I wish that every day of your lives could be like the life Alon and I shared together, full of love and happiness. I am sorry to the rest of the family and to my friends. I am sorry that we cannot say goodbye properly. Thank you for everything you were to me. Please try to remember me as I was before that terrible day. And do not hold anger in your hearts. Now I am no longer suffering. Now I am happy and at peace."
"Thank you for 32 wonderful years (34 minus 2), during which I managed to fulfill all my dreams. I managed to do everything," she wrote. She concluded with a line from Frank Sinatra's song: "I did it my way."
In the posts she shared online, expressing the pain and sorrow that never left her, Mor wrote her age as "34-2," subtracting the two years and three months that had passed since her beloved Alon was murdered. The couple had traveled together to many countries around the world. Since his murder, Mor had suffered profound emotional anguish, pain and psychological distress.
Alon, who coached a Hapoel Tel Aviv youth soccer team and worked as a physical education teacher, was murdered alongside Amnon Bezalel and Hagai Efrat by an Egyptian police officer who opened fire with his personal weapon during an organized tour in Alexandria. The attack took place just one day after the October 7 massacre, while the group was near Pompey's Pillar, a Roman triumphal column considered one of the best-known tourist attractions in Alexandria, Egypt's second-largest city.
Mor's uncle, Nahum Israeli, wrote Friday: "For three years, you have been gone. You have not been at peace, not been present, not been yourself. Now there is peace for you. You died back then, three years ago! When that bullet pierced the heart of your beloved Alon, it pierced yours too. But now there is peace for you. A huge crack opened in all our hearts three years ago, and now it has grown, widened and deepened. But at least now there is peace for you. We remain here to lick our wounds, mend what has been broken and preserve life. If only there is peace for you now. Give us a sign so that we know. Are you at peace now? Mor Shamli, my beloved niece."