A musician from Buckinghamshire has paid tribute to her cousin and his wife after they were shot dead by Hamas gunmen in Israel.

Singer-songwriter Camilla Mathias from Chesham was left devastated by shocking news coming from family members in Israel following the attacks by Hamas fighters on October 7. 

Her cousin Shlomi Matias and his wife Shahar died in a brutal attack when gunmen stormed their home in Holit, Israel. Shahar died shielding their youngest teenage son Rotem with her body.

Camilla said: “They were such beautiful human beings. That’s what makes it so upsetting, they were such wonderful people and that’s why the violent death is so difficult.”

Bucks Free Press: Shahar and Shlomi Matias Shahar and Shlomi Matias (Image: Mathias family)

Shlomi was Camilla’s cousin from her dad’s Theodore side, who passed away 13 years ago at the age of 77.

Theodore grew up as a Romanian Jewish, but he was forced to escape the country and move to Israel.

Although Camilla didn’t grow up Jewish, it was always part of her background.

READ MORE: Israel-Palestine conflict: Bucks rabbi talks about toll on community

At the age of 17 after her parents' divorce, she discovered she had family in Israel from her dad’s first marriage, which “he didn’t really talk about because my mum didn’t want to.”

Camilla and her sister Lorelai visited the family 30 years ago, where they met Shlomi.

Bucks Free Press: Camilla (left) with her sister Lorelai meeting their cousin Shlomi (middle) in Israel 30 years ago.Camilla (left) with her sister Lorelai meeting their cousin Shlomi (middle) in Israel 30 years ago. (Image: Camilla Mathias)

“I had this whole other part of me. They were such warm people, everybody wanted to feed us and we did a tour meeting all this family. Next time I met Shlomi he had married Shahar.”

The couple were musical, often singing and playing to other people, which inspired Camilla to create a tribute song with proceeds going to her cousin’s surviving children as part of the fundraiser. 

“It felt right to release music, it’s important to me and it’s important to them. When you don’t know how to react to something, that’s why it’s called Beyond Words , because there are no words,” she explained.

Listen to the song Beyond Words below. 

Over the years, Camilla was unable to visit Israel due to security concerns, but social media helped her to stay in touch with her step-sister and cousins despite the distance.

It was also social media that brought the news about the horrific deaths. Camilla had been watching a documentary about peace at The Elgiva in Chesham with friends, when she received the message from her sister.

“It doesn’t really hit you at first, I was deeply upset when I spoke with my sister. But it was a sunny day and I cycled home and that’s when it hit me.”

To make matters worse, she later saw disturbing images showing screengrabs off a Telegram group chat in Canada, claiming Shlomi’s children were used as crisis actors by Israel and that “they had it coming.”

“It’s just so upsetting. This is real, these people are real. This is just about human life. We all lose people in a way that is unfair and inexplicable. I believe we all mirror the behaviour of being kind to people and giving as much as we can, and this can overcome this misguided hate,” she added.

The escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine has claimed thousands of civilian lives.

Palestinian authorities have estimated that more than 10,000 have been killed since October 7 by Israeli air strikes in the Gaza strip, which has been unlawfully blocked by Israel for 16 years. 

Israeli authorities have said 1,400 people have been killed in the current escalation of the conflict.