The sister of a man who went to school in Kenton and was serving in the Israeli army when he was killed by Hamas militants has paid tribute to her “fun-loving” brother.

Gaby Young told PA that her brother Nathanel was a “typical 20-year-old cheeky chappie” who died protecting his country.

She added that her brother, who was born in Southgate, loved his four nieces, was “fun-loving” and had a passion for DJing.

Nathanel had a “strong Jewish identity” and attended JFS in Kenton, the largest Jewish secondary school in Europe.

His sister said that she was in contact with her brother by phone on the morning of October 7, when Hamas militants attacked, but he then stopped reading or responding to her WhatsApp messages.

The 38-year-old from Tel Aviv said that her brother “decided to come to Israel just for a short amount of time” – but ultimately stayed a year before joining the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

Gaby said her brother joined the IDF because he wanted to be “able to protect Israel and protect civilians, especially from terrorist threats” and served in the force for one year before his death.

As air raid sirens sounded at around 6.30am on the morning of October 7, the British-Israeli soldier rang his sister and said he’d “heard that there were missiles”.

“He was actually on the border with Gaza at that time, and so we exchanged a few WhatsApps because I couldn’t hear him properly on the phone,” Gaby explained.

“I had to grab my husband and my children and rush them into a shelter, so obviously we were terrified.”

At the time, Gaby said they had not yet “realised the extent” of the attack that morning.

Shortly after the siblings exchanged texts, she said the blue ticks confirming her WhatsApp messages had been read stopped appearing.

Gaby said: “I spent the whole day trying to figure out what was going on and where he was, hoping he was okay, that he just left his phone somewhere or something like that, not anything worse.”

Gaby was informed by the IDF around 1am on October 8 that he had been killed while protecting a kibbutz on the Gaza border.

His funeral took place two days later, during which an air raid siren rang out while Gaby read her eulogy.

She said: “I hope that after all of this, and in more peaceful times, we’ll be able to honour him with some kind of music studio in his memory for those maybe with PTSD, or even just young people who have an interest in music.

“I’d love to follow that dream.”

Reporting by PA.