Bangor man’s grandson killed in Hamas attack

The grandson of a Bangor man was killed in the Hamas attack this weekend.

Israel Defense Forces Capt. Aryeh Shlomo Ziering was killed when Hamas launched a surprise attack in Gaza on Saturday.

Ziering is the grandson of Howard Trotsky, a former high school teacher in Bangor. Trotsky also served for eight years as a Republican state senator in the 1970s and 1980s.

“We send our love and sympathy to Howard and to all of Aryeh’s family in Israel,” a statement from Congregation Beth Israel said.

The congregation appreciates the community’s support, but it is a time of intense grief and it is requesting privacy at this time, Rabbi Bill Siemers said.

Ziering was a member of the canine special forces unit with the Israel Defense Forces.

Hamas launched surprise attacks Saturday morning from Gaza into Israel. At least 900 people have been killed in Israel as of Monday, Israel’s Army Radio reported.

One attack happened at a music festival near the border, killing at least 260, with an unknown number of people taken hostage, CNN reported.

Israel has killed at least 704 Palestinians since Oct. 7 as of 3 p.m. Monday, Al Jazeera reported. The majority of the deaths were in Gaza. Mosques were a target of the bombing, NPR reported.

There is a “complete siege” of Gaza, meaning no electricity, food, fuel or water will be allowed into the Palestinian enclave, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said. Israel has been building an “iron wall” along the border between the country and the Gaza Strip.

The fence is about 19-feet tall and extends underground. It has remote controlled weapons and hundreds of cameras and radar along it.

Before the war started, people living in Gaza had limited access to clean drinking water and power outages were constant because of damage to the grid, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.