Mira Shoshani, who was the most senior woman in the Shin Bet security agency at the time of the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, has described in an interview how she spoke to her daughter in her final moments before she was murdered by terrorists on that day, and her amplified sense of guilt due to her job.

Shoshani, whose family lived in Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Gaza border, and who like others was forced to hide at home as terrorists ravaged Israeli communities, was head of a Shin Bet division responsible for senior Hamas members abroad. In an interview broadcast on Channel 12 Wednesday night, she spoke of her daughter Staff Sgt. Ofir Shoshani‘s death and the regrets she still has at not being able to save her.

Due to her senior role, and her knowledge of highly sensitive information, Shoshani also spoke of the concerns she and other defense officials had throughout that day that she would be captured by Hamas.

“I thought a lot about what I would say if I were taken captive. It crossed my mind many times that if I were taken captive, it should be clear to everyone [in Israel] that they need to kill me. They shouldn’t try to rescue me; they need to kill me.”

“Unacceptable helplessness,” Shoshani said as she recalled speaking with her daughter, who had been shot. “Unable to help my girl. This is what I had been doing my whole life, and I couldn’t manage to help my girl.”

Shoshani joined the Shin Bet at the age of 24 and rose through the ranks until she commanded her own division. She and her husband Shai had made a home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which lies on the border with the Gaza Strip, where they raised three children, two boys and a girl.

Terrorists murdered 80 people at the kibbutz during the attack, and destroyed dozens of homes. Ofir was among the victims.

“I thought I understood Hamas; I was part of the concept,” she said, referring to the widely held belief among Israeli security officials before October 7 that Hamas was deterred from launching a major attack on Israel.

Though the couple was aware of the risks of living so close to the border, they chose to remain, she said, explaining, “This is my kibbutz and community. You live in a dilemma all the time.”

“I knew Haniyeh very well,” she said, referring to Ismail Haniyeh, the late head of Hamas’s political bureau, who lived in Qatar and was assassinated by Israel in 2024. “I knew when he got up and when he went to sleep, what he did during the day, and with whom he met.”

On the day of the attack, the family was on the kibbutz, with Ofir in her........

© The Times of Israel