Mother of Canadian victim in Oct. 7 attacks recalls 'lioness' who died protecting her 'cubs'

Asked to describe her daughter, Jacqui Rivers Vital remembers Adi Vital-Kaploun as a lioness who in her final moments fought "to save her cubs ."

Vital-Kaploun, 33, was one of eight Canadians murdered in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas , which Canada has condemned as a terrorist group .

According to her mother, Vital-Kaploun was sheltering in the safe room of her home on Kibbutz Holit, a communal farm in southwest Israel, when Hamas militants broke into her family's sanctuary and attacked her.

Vital-Kaploun's two boys — one aged only six months at the time, the other three years and nine months — were huddled with her, Rivers Vital said.

She was armed with an M16 rifle she had access to because her husband was part of a security squad, but she was outnumbered and d