The lives of many Israelis changed forever on October 7, 2023 when thousands of Israeli fighters Hamas They launched an incursion into Israel in which They massacred 1,200 peoplemost of them civilians.
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Since then, in the war launched by Israel against Hamas More than 700 soldiers have died. But although the deaths are irreversible, one of the most delicate points that the Government has dealt with is that of the kidnapped people.
That morning of Saturday, October 7, Hamas managed to create a particularly traumatic situation for Israel. In several civilian communities the militiamen They kidnapped about 250 people. Among them were several dozen minors, including children and a baby less than nine months old. Also elderly, men and women. They were torn from their homes, in many cases still wearing pajamas, barefoot and in the midst of horror. Nothing is still known about many of them.
This is a long, endless night and a nightmare
“This is a long, endless night and a nightmare,” is a repeated comment from the mouths of the relatives of the kidnapped, who not only do not know when or how they will return, but are certain that their loved ones are in especially difficult conditions.
At this moment they are still in Gaza 101 kidnapped. The vast majority are Jewish Israelis. However, there are also Muslim Bedouin Israelis and eight Thais who were working in fields in agricultural communities in the area.
Shortly after the massacre, two kidnapped Israelis residing in the United States and holding North American citizenship were released. Then, two older women, from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Within the framework of the ceasefire that began on November 24, which lasted until Friday, December 1, 105 kidnapped people were released, 85 of them Israelis and the rest foreigners in exchange for the cessation and the release of Palestinians.
Since then, in four military operations, eight kidnapped people have been rescued alive and the bodies of 33 of them. Some of them had been kidnapped already dead and others were murdered in captivity.
The family drama
Entire families were devastated on October 7, even in cases where they were not killed. One of the most emblematic is that of the Bibas family: parents Yarden and Shiri and their children Kfir and Ariel, who were 8 and a half months and 4 years old, were kidnapped in Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the most terrible scenes of the attack ago. one year.
I ask my family to hold on a little longer, not to despair, we are still waiting for you.
“I ask my family to hold on a little longer“Don’t despair, we’re still waiting for you,” said Ofrí Bibas, Yarden’s sister, who gave birth months ago and told about the harsh duality of the joy of such a moment and the deep sadness because her baby does not have her side to his cousins.
Also in Nir Oz’s Cunio family, more than one of its members is expected. On 7/10, Hamas kidnapped two of the Cunio brothers – the youngest Ariel with his girlfriend Arbel Yehud (both are still in Gaza) and David, his wife Sharon and their 3-year-old twin daughters, along with Danielle Aloni, Sharon’s sister, and her daughter Emilia, 6.
David’s twin, Eitan, almost drowned with his wife and children in a shelter due to the smoke from the fire set by the terrorists, but at the last minute he managed to save himself.
The women and children who were in David and Sharon’s house and were kidnapped together were released in November, but David is still there. And when Sharon, from her completely burned house in Kibbutz Nir Oz, tearfully asks to see the love of her life again, it is difficult to understand that this environment had previously been a happy home.
Silvia Cunio, Ariel and David’s mother, continues with her memories on October 7. He is afraid to hope and he is afraid to lose them. “Untenable”, is his summary when asked how he is spending these times.
Nir Oz, who had 415 inhabitants the day of the killinglost 15 percent of them forever. Another 70 were kidnapped, of whom 40 were released in November and more than 20 are still alive in captivity, but there is no certainty about it.
In Kibbutz Beerí, which lost 102 of its members killed in the massacre and had more than 30 kidnapped, The homes of the affected families have huge cloth posters with the photos and a summary of their stories. At the entrance to where the Haran family lived, now converted into a pile of incinerated and completely destroyed memories, there are eight banners with photos.
Their father, Avshalom Haran, was murdered. Everyone else, including his 3- and 8-year-old grandchildren and an 11-year-old great-niece, They are also kidnapped.
Yuval, Avshalom’s son, who was saved because he was not in the house, says while he is in front of the place where he grew up that for the State of Israel it must be a priority to return his brother-in-law and all those who are still imprisoned in the tunnels from Gaza.
And the future with the Palestinian neighbors? In principle, he thinks that the idea of living in peace should be maintained, but now, he does not know how it can be achieved after what happened.
I know that civilians also entered here, so there is no reason now to believe in peaceful coexistence with those who celebrated the massacre.
Dani Majzner, 63, whose sister was murdered while she was alone in the shelter of her home, can no longer believe it. “I know that civilians also entered here, so there are no reasons now to believe in peaceful coexistence with those who celebrated the massacre,” he maintains.
All the families of the kidnapped are now living almost a year of anguish and worryalthough not all of them face the fight in the same way. There are those who go out to demonstrate in the streets protesting against the government, accusing it of having missed important opportunities to reach an agreement with Hamas, and there are those who consider that this is harmful because minimizes the blame of the Islamist group.
And now, when Israel intensified war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, The fear of the relatives is that this will definitively add to the oblivion of the kidnapped people. “We can’t stop fighting for them, we have little time left,” says Einat Zangauker, whose son Matan remains kidnapped.
However, Einat, one of the most categorical voices of the public struggle, emphasizes: “Their time ran out a while ago.”
JANA BERIS
FOR TIME
JERUSALEM
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