London England – Two British citizens spoke at a press conference in London about how the Palestinian Hamas militia took their elderly parents from their beds and forcibly took them to Gaza along with children and youth from the Israeli Kibbutz of Nir Oz. Both asked the international community and governments to help recover their relatives who they have not heard from since the weekend.
Six days have passed since the military incursion by land, sea and air of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israeli soil, which resulted in more than a hundred civilians kidnapped and taken to the territory of the Gaza Strip, according to the militants themselves.
Noam Sagi and Sharon Lifschitz, two British citizens whose relatives are some of the hostages kidnapped by the militia, were visibly emotional as they recounted how their parents were forcibly taken from their homes in southern Israel and taken to the Gaza Strip. . “I shouldn’t be here today, I was supposed to go to Heathrow to pick up my mother. I’m here for acts of pure evil.”Sagi said. Likewise, she asked for help to free babies, children, mothers and the elderly from captivity.
Among the people taken hostage by the militia is Ariel, a six-month-old baby, and 3-year-old Kfir, according to images shared at the press conference in a London hotel.
Sagi, 53, recounted how last Saturday morning, the Israeli kibbutz of Nir OZ, where he was born and raised, “woke up to a massacre, to a second holocaust.”
“I am here because I needask for help to free babies, children, mothers and the elderly from captivity. They were gassed, burned, massacred, murdered and kidnapped, mostly young children and the elderly. They burned the place to the ground, shot the dogs, and nothing was left. The people who survived the Holocaust found themselves facing another one,” said the British-Israeli based in London.
In addition, he stated that among the victims is a person who survived the Holocaust, who as a child was transported on the “KinderTransport,” the train that evacuated Jewish children before World War II.
Hostages of all ages missing
Other hostages, whose whereabouts are unknown, include Tamir Adar, 38, Yafa Adar, 85, Noam Elyakim, Dikla Aava, 50, Dafna Elyakim, Timer Eliaz Arava, 17, as well as Ela Elyakim, Nahal Oz and Abigail, whose ages were not revealed, but who are believed to have also been taken to Gaza.
For her part, Sharon Lifschitz said: “They took my mother out, they disconnected her oxygen to put her on a motorcycle,” she said through tears.
He added that the attackers have shown “that they have no mercy… but beyond that we have to find a way for a future and I think right now it’s just the fact that we can’t do anything until our elderly and children come back.”
Lifschitz told France 24 that he thinks his 83- and 85-year-old parents are a “valuable asset” and is therefore hopeful that they will be cared for.
“My mom and dad, I would say, are incredibly strong people in their hearts and in their will.”
Meanwhile, Sagi added that those transferred from a nursing home to Gaza “are people with cancer, with dementia, these are people with Parkinson’s, they do not have mobility.” Amid uncertainty over their physical condition and whereabouts, both believe they are in a race against time, after the Israeli government cut electricity, water and food in the enclave.
Before the international press, Lifschitz assured that what we are facing is “an act of barbarism that is inciting us to hate, to anger, to the desire to destroy and this senseless act has taken away our community.”
“My father spent his life fighting for peace… now we must act together to fight that hatred with love, to say no to massacre and destruction. Children and the elderly are not part of this war,” said the artist. 52 years.
Finally, Sagi asked the British network ‘BBC’ to use the term “terrorists” and not militants when referring to Hamas. The public broadcaster has been criticized in recent days for not referring to the group as “terrorists” but as “militants” in its reports, arguing that this is its editorial policy. Sagi asked to use the human code and call him what he is. “The nuance right now feels terrible, terrible.”
17 Britons dead or missing
British-Israelis who have relatives in Israel recalled how a few days ago in civilian communities in southern Israel they went door to door, snatched babies from their mothers and children from their beds, “handcuffed them and brutally massacred them in cold blood.” . Entire families were massacred in their homes, young people attending the music festival were rounded up and attacked, girls were raped on the bodies of their friends, and many of those who survived were kidnapped. In international law these acts are called genocide.”
The British press reports that at least 17 British citizens are dead or missing, including children, after the weekend attacks in southern Israel. The UK government has not yet given an official figure for the number of citizens affected in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, nor the number of hostages held in Gaza.
Meanwhile, ‘Save The Children’ in the Palestinian Territories indicated that it has no knowledge of the whereabouts of the children and babies who were taken in Israel and taken to the Gaza Strip. From Jerusalem, the organization’s national director, Jason Lee, said all civilians must be protected and stressed that taking children hostage is against international law. The organization’s call is that all civilians regardless of nationality be protected and that detained civilians be released.
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