How name dropping Lionel Messi saved an Israeli grandmother from Hamas
A young man salvages objects amid the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli bombing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on January 27, 2024, as battles between Israel and the militant group Hamas continue.
Cunio steered the conversation towards legendary soccer forward Lionel Messi as she communicated with the intruders
In one of the most surreal moments of the October 7 rampage, one man leaned over the seated Cunio, and placed his assault rifle on her lap
Tel Aviv
"I’m from where Messi is from," 90-year-old Esther Cunio told the two masked Palestinian gunmen who moments earlier invaded her home in southern Israel.
