Hundreds of innocent civilians, including children, are believed to have been held hostage in Israel by Hamas – prompting the Jewish state to scramble to find and free them as the terror group threatened on Monday to execute the captives.
Israeli authorities have yet to provide specific details on the number and identity of the abducted victims, however, a preliminary assessment shared by a senior military official with the New York Times indicates that at least 150 people have been arrested.
Among them are 5-year-old Raz and 3-year-old Aviv, their devastated father, Yoni Asher, revealed on Monday.
Asher’s whole world came crashing down Saturday when he recognized his girls and their mother in a video circulating on social media showing the kidnapped Israelis being forced into a flatbed truck, surrounded by gunmen.
He last spoke to his wife, Doron Asher Katz, 34, earlier that day when he called her from her mother’s place in southern Israel, according to Bloomberg.
“He told me terrorists had infiltrated the house,” he told the outlet. “Phone disconnected.”
5-year-old Raz and 3-year-old Aviv were among the hostages held by Hamas.Instagram/Doron Katz Asher Noa Argamani and her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, were at a music festival near the Gaza border when gunmen stormed the site, killing hundreds. Facebook
It is not clear where the terrorist group is hiding the hundreds it brutally looted. Gaza may be a small strip of land under strict surveillance surrounded by the Israel Defense Forces, but it remains relatively opaque to Israeli intelligence agencies, experts say.
However, there is little question that those abducted – who also include Israeli soldiers, the elderly and women – are in imminent and extraordinary danger.
On Monday, the al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas, the terrorist group’s military wing, coldly declared they would start killing their prisoners if the Israeli government continued to bomb Palestinian land.
The gunman grabbed Argamani, 25, as her boyfriend looked on. Facebook Argamani pleaded with his captors not to kill him. They drove away shortly after. via REUTERS
“Any targeting of innocent civilians without warning will be met with regret by executing one of the prisoners in our custody, and we will be forced to broadcast this sentence,” said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Qassam Brigades.
The worst attack on Israel in 50 years: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launched a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches its biggest attack on Israel in 50 years.
More than 700 Israelis died, more than 2,150 were injured and 100 were taken hostage, with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli cities.
Hamas terrorists are seen taking women hostage and parading them through the streets in a gruesome video.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and promised Hamas would pay an “unprecedented price.”
Gaza health officials reported at least 300 Palestinians killed with 2,200 injured.
“We regret this decision, but we hold the Zionist enemies and their leadership responsible for this.”
That statement brings to light one of the main reasons Hamas seems so intent on arresting innocent civilians: The leverage it can give them.
“The brutal reality is that Hamas is taking hostages as an insurance policy against Israeli retaliation, especially massive ground attacks and to trade for Palestinian prisoners,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Palestinian militants drive back to the Gaza Strip with the body of an Israeli soldier on Saturday. AP
“Will it constrain how Israel responds?” he asked. “If the numbers are great, why not?”
Yifat Zailer, whose cousin’s family was kidnapped – including a nine-month-old and a three-year-old – pleaded with the international community to do something in a heartbreaking interview on CNN.
“All institutions in the world should help civilians who have been kidnapped. Please do something to force Hamas to release them alive!,” she pleaded through tears.
“This has never happened before – nothing like this has ever happened before. We need everyone’s help. We need the president of Turkey, we need the king of Egypt. We need everyone to help us! Please! I’m sorry I’m so emotional. “
Like Asher, Zailer discovered his relatives had been kidnapped when he recognized them in a video on social media, according to Agence France-Presse.
A man at a rally in support of Israel after the deadly attack holds a photo of festival goer Shani Louk, who was kidnapped and paraded by Hamas terrorists.ZUMAPRESS.com
In another horrifying viral video, Israeli woman Noa Argamani, 25, and her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, were kidnapped at a trance music festival held in the plains of the Negev Desert.
Many tried to escape the gunmen, who stormed the festival and killed hundreds of people. At least 260 bodies were later found at the site, a grim testament to the bloodlust of their killers.
But Argamani wasn’t killed — instead, he was hoisted onto the back of a motorcycle and driven away, crying as Or walked nearby with his hands held behind his back.
Shani Louk, a young tattoo artist from Germany, was stripped and killed after gunmen attacked the festival.Instagram/hanukkk
“Don’t kill me! No, no, no,” she screamed, as her helpless boyfriend watched.
Others don’t make it that far.
Shani Louk, a 23-year-old tattoo artist from Germany, was last seen on camera dancing and laughing at the festival.
Hours later, Hamas gunmen stripped and killed him, according to the Independent.
Armed fighters paraded his naked body through the streets on a flatbed truck, shouting “Allahu Akbar” as they went.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest news on Hamas attacks on Israel
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “great revenge” against Hamas, the hostage situation poses a “serious dilemma” for Israel.
“The concern is that if and when the ground operation begins, Hamas will threaten to carry out hostages every hour, every two hours, and that will be a very heated debate,” said veteran Israeli political commentator Ehud Yaari.
“It will limit the direction and area in which the IDF can be active,” added Michael Milstein, former head of the Palestinian department in Israeli military intelligence.
“It will make things more complicated.”
Fires and smoke rose after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on Sunday. AP An armed Palestinian terrorist takes a hostage from a music festival, held near Kibbutz Reim. Hamas has seized many such hostages. ANONYMOUS/AFP via Getty Images
But not everyone has the same reservations.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s powerful finance minister and settler leader, demanded late Saturday that the Israeli army “brutally crush Hamas and disregard the issue of prisoners significantly.”
“In war, you have to be ruthless,” he was quoted as saying.
“We have to deal a blow that has not been seen for 50 years and bring down Gaza.”
Others seemed to agree that the prisoners would not stop Israel from retaliating against the attack, which has left hundreds dead and thousands wounded on both sides.
“We don’t know where the Israelis are taking refuge,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu.
“But this whole issue of captured Israel will not stop Israel from bombing Gaza until Hamas is destroyed.”
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
