Light hits the wall inside the entrance to a concrete bomb shelter no bigger than a bus stop. In the shadows inside, 27 people are packed together like sardines, hiding and afraid. Less than an hour earlier the young men and women had been welcoming dawn at the Nova music festival in Israel, a few miles from the Gaza border.

It’s around 8am on October 7, 2023, and Hamas terrorists have just launched a surprise attack on Israeli kibbutz farms and the festival site, killing civilians indiscriminately and at will. Hamas are now outside the shelter where these festival goers have fled. The militants have just murdered a Bedouin security guard. He tried to plead with them that those inside the tiny building were unarmed, which they are, but Hamas don’t care. They want to kill as many people as possible.

Standing just inside the entrance to the bomb shelter is 22-year-old off-duty Israeli soldier, Aner Shapira. In a remarkable photo taken by someone laying on the floor behind him, Aner is silhouetted by the sun’s rays entering the shelter as he stands alone, wearing just shorts, T-shirt and sandals, about to face a terrorist attack.

To Aner’s right written on the missile shelter walls in Hebrew is the word “unprotected”, a simple instruction to those sheltering from missiles that the entrance is not a safe place to stand. Behind a red line and Aner, and above the rest of the people hiding on the floor, is the word “protected”.

The first grenade lands in the shelter. Aner begins to protect.

“He always made a stand, ever since he was a child,” says Aner’s father, Moshe, speaking to the Sunday Express, alongside Aner’s mother Shira, at the Israeli Embassy in London this week. “He always stood for the weak, when he was child if there was any bullying at school, he stood against that. If a teacher insulted a pupil, he would come to them and tell them that was not nice. He had no fear of anyone.”

For the next 30 minutes Aner courageously threw back at least seven grenades at the terrorists. His parents believe he also managed to throw back a rocket propelled grenade (RPG), which had failed to explode.

But finally, one grenade could not be thrown back.

There are recordings of what happened at this missile shelter on route 232 in one of the air raid structures that have since been dubbed ‘Death Shelters’ since October 7. There is video too.

“You can hear when Aner is throwing the grenades, you can hear it very clearly, they (the people in the shelter) say, ‘You are a fighter, such a king, throw, throw’,” says his mother, Shira.

“The picture that we think is the most amazing of the story, is the one where only Aner is standing and everyone else is hiding, he made the decision to protect.”

Moshe adds: “There is a line and Aner is standing there, you would think AI had done this picture.”

Incredibly even after he had died, Aner’s will lived on, Shira explained: “He told those in the shelter ‘if I miss, or something happens to me you should continue’.”

Following Aner’s orders, those still alive threw back at least two more grenades before Hamas stormed the shelter.

It’s clear from the look in their eyes that Moshe and Shira are immensely proud of what their son did that day, though their sadness at his passing is almost overwhelming. But at the same time, Shira says: “Whenever someone is talking about Aner they want us to talk about the last hour of his life, the battle in the shelter, the grenades and everything, but we always insist on talking about his whole life.”

To that effect, the Shapira family, of which Aner was the eldest of seven children, are releasing an album of his songs. Aner was a trained classical pianist but later fell in love with rap and hip-hop.

Moshe says: “In the last half hour that he had, he expressed himself with grenades, but in his life he did it in music. Our decision was we want to celebrate his living legacy.” Shira adds: “One song says if something happens to me, if I am dead, you should publish my album.”

Moshe and Shira met Conservative MPs Priti Patel and Ben Obese-Jecty, plus Tory peer Lord Polak during their London visit to discuss the release of Aner’s music which will help fund a music school in Israel in his honour as well as discuss the ongoing plight of Israeli hostages.

Aner, who was also a talented artist, died at the shelter near Re’im, just a few miles from the Gaza border. Of the 27 young people who were hiding inside with him, 16 were murdered and four others were abducted by Hamas. Seven survived after the bodies of those who were gunned down fell on top of them.

More could have died if not for the stand taken by Aner because his stand meant the militants had no time to check everyone was dead before they fled.

Of the four hostages taken, Aner’s best friend Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who lost his arm in the attack, was murdered in Gaza. Eliya Cohen and Or Levy have now been released.

The remaining hostage, 24-year-old Alon Ohel, who was held with Cohen and Levy, was last known to be alive in February this year, when Levy was released. Far from the now quiet shelter walls on route 232 is Alon’s family home in Lavon, northern Israel. A piano stands with the lid still open in the living room; it has remained open since October 7.

Like Aner, Alon also managed to throw back a grenade, and like Aner he shares a love of music, his mother Idit says.

The last piano Alon’s parents bought for him still sits in the family lounge, alongside his favourite jacket. Idit says when Alon left the house he usually closed the piano, but on the day he left the house to go to the festival “he did not close it”.

“We noticed the day after (October 7), and I left it open, and it is still left open until today,” she says, speaking to me from her home in Israel.

Next to the piano on the back of the chair is an orange and navy check lumberjack-style jacket. It was found by a car near the bomb shelter. A month after October 7 it was discovered by a friend of Alon who brought it back to his parents.

Speaking to the Sunday Express from her home in Israel, Idit said: “It’s the only thing that survived from the car, his jacket, and that’s why we have it here. We know Alon is being kept in Gaza, 40 metres in the tunnels underground. He’s been there since he was taken hostage on that day.”

With no ceasefire in sight, Idit worries what that might mean for her son. “He’s been beaten, chained and starved. Alon does not know the difference between day and night. He counts the days, they know the hours because of the Hamas prayers otherwise they don’t know what time it is,” she says.

“Alon was injured, he has damage to his right eye and cannot see, doctors say if he doesn’t get treatment the other eye might go blind as well because it is overcompensating. He has been bound by chains with his legs.

“What we know is that when there is a ceasefire, Hamas give them a little more than a pitta a day, they let them talk a little with each other. But when there is war they are more brutal.”

Like Aner’s parents, Idit is fiercely proud of her son’s achievements in his life away from its connection with the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“When he got to the age of nine, he said to us that he wanted to play the piano, so we bought a keyboard, and he started playing.

“Eventually the piano teacher told us, ‘You have to buy a piano or I am not coming anymore’, because he said Alon had such a great talent.”

But as President Donald Trump visited the Middle East this week, the families of Aner and Alon worry what the future holds.

In a statement released before American hostage Edan Alexander was freed this week, Ohel’s family said: “The deal leaves Alon behind. While he is injured and in pain, we are in a nightmare and frightened.”

Aner’s father Moshe is unsure what will happen now with the conflict.

“America and Trump have the ability to rescue people, sadly it’s not enough to rescue non-American citizens, but we would like to see Trump’s power bring us home more hostages,” says the former IDF soldier, 53.

“Whoever brings the hostages home, the government should get the credit and we are happy that Edan is released.”

Asked if he supported any plan by Israeli PM Netanyahu to enact full Israeli military control of the security of Gaza, Mr Shapira adds: “For the sake of the Palestinians, they will do much better without Hamas. Hamas is bad for Israel, but it’s the worst thing for the Palestinians in all aspects.

“What happens to places where you have religious extremists – we had Daesh, we had the Muslim brothers – it’s nothing to do with Israel. The group that is suffering, 99% of the victims of these extremist Muslims, are Muslims.

“For the sake of the people of Gaza we wish them all the best but for their sake, they shouldn’t have Hamas control.

“We saw the demonstrations in Gaza against Hamas and I hope they can do it (overthrow Hamas) themselves, but if not… what is certain is Hamas cannot stay there, even if it was elected in free elections. In Germany Hitler won an election, it’s not an excuse to have such a regime.”

Aner Shapira's parents have released an album featuring his rap and hip-hop songs, of which he recorded more than 60. The proceeds from the ablum it is hoped will go towards funding a music school built in his memory in his home city of Jerusalem.

For more information visit Aner's website here and instagram page here

In Alon Ohel’s honour, and for all those still being held hostage in Gaza, his family and friends have released a song together with American singer-songwriter Five for Fighting.

The song features revised lyrics from Five For Fighting's iconic song, “Superman (It’s Not Easy),” which became an anthem for first responders after 9/11. The track now takes on new meaning as a tribute to Alon, who is still held hostage by Hamas.

To hear the track and support Alon's cause visit this YouTube page.