On video call with hubby in Kerala, Soumya was pounded by Hamas shell in Israel

A Keralite was killed in a mortar shell attack by the Hamas group near Ashkelon in Israel, while she was on a video call with her husband back home.

Santhosh, a native of Keerithodu in Idukki, is in shock after witnessing flames engulf his better half in a foreign country for no fault of hers.

Soumya, 32, also hailing from Idukki, Keerithodu in Idukki, was speaking to Santhosh from the home she was working as a caretaker in Ashlekon, when the Hamas rocket pounded on the building.

Soumya, who rang up Santhosh at 5:30 p.m. IST, minutes before the rocket pounded on the building, was telling her husband about the tense atmosphere that engulfed the place.

A weeping Soumya told him the scenes outside were chaotic with shells landing all over in the vicinity.

Soumya informed him she would be soon fleeing to the safety of a bunker in the home, where she was taking care of an elderly woman.

She had no clue when she would be able to call her beloved, Santhosh, who was barely able to console his wife. Then he heard a violent thud. Smoke billowed on the screen, but Soumya was not to be seen.

The video call also got cut, severing the 32-year-old Soumya's ties with her near and dear ones.

He tried to connect the video call many times, in vain.

Santhosh still is not able to reconcile to a grim fact: It was the last time he saw her.

After an hour, Sherly Benny, Soumya's sister-in-law, who also works in Ashlekon in Israel, called up home to convey the inevitable news to Santhosh, Soumya's parents Satheeshan and Savitri and Soumya's eight-year-old son.

The elderly woman for whom Soumya worked was also killed.

At least 35 people, including kids, have been killed in Gaza and five in Israel in the most intensive offensive between Israel and Hamas since the 2014 war in Gaza, Reuters reported.

Soumya last visited her native place in Kerala in 2017.