The blaring of sirens Saturday “didn’t seem scary” at first to Abbey Onn, but the Virginia native, who has lived in Israel with her family for the past eight years and has grown accustomed to the sound, soon discovered in the most gut-wrenching way that the nation was under a terrorist attack and her family was trapped in the crossfire.
“We began getting messages, videos, photos, of Hamas infiltrating the south [of Israel] and understood that the sirens meant something else. Within a few hours, we were getting messages from the family WhatsApp group that … Hamas was in the kibbutz,” Ms. Onn said in a phone interview Tuesday from Israel.
Five of her cousins were taken by Hamas gunmen from their homes in Nir Oz, she said, including 80-year-old Carmela Dan and 12-year-old Erez Kalderon.
Hamas gunmen took five of her cousins, she said, including 80-year-old Carmela Dan and 12-year-old Erez Kalderon. Video footage posted to social media appears to show Erez being taken captive after Hamas reportedly set fire to their home and much of the kibbutz to force out Israelis hiding in basements, safe rooms or elsewhere.
“At some point on Sunday, we got video of 12-year-old Erez in the hands of Hamas,” Ms. Onn said. “I immediately burst into tears and started shaking. It’s any parent’s worst nightmare.”
Hamas dragged hostages from their homes in southern Israel and captured people attending the Tribe of Nova music festival near the Gaza border.
More than 1,000 Israelis died and more than 3,400 were wounded in the attack, Israeli officials said. Nearly 800 Palestinians have died in Gaza, Hamas’ stronghold, as Israel carries out an unprecedented counterterrorism mission.
Israel and the Palestinian militant movement that controls Gaza have clashed as recently as 2014, but Hamas’ seizure of an estimated 100 to 150 Israeli and foreign nationals in its lightning attack has introduced a searing complication into the struggle. Hamas officials have threatened to execute hostages on camera if Israel bombs civilian targets in Gaza without warning.
Heartbreaking stories of the civilians taken hostage, from innocent young children to the elderly, have put human faces to the staggering violence. Israeli officials said they have identified most of the captives and have started to notify their families.
President Biden confirmed Tuesday that some of the hostages are U.S. citizens. Some of the others are from Germany, Thailand and other nations, so many governments worldwide now have a direct vested interest in securing their safe release.
“We now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas,” Mr. Biden said during a speech at the White House. “I’m directing my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts because, as president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world.”
Hamas officials said the captives are in “safe places and resistance tunnels” that run from Gaza into Israel. Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, reportedly said Tuesday that the group will not discuss prisoner exchanges with Israel “until the end of the battle.” Those comments underscore Hamas’ plan to use the hostages as leverage against Israel and as human shields.
Abu Obeida, spokesman of the Hamas military wing known as the Qassam Brigades, said Monday that the group won’t hesitate to kill its hostages.
“We declare that we will respond to any targeting of our people who are safe in their homes without warning, with the execution of our civilian hostages, and we will broadcast it with audio and video,” Mr. Obeida said, according to a translation of his message.
Monumental task
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch as head of the hostage rescue efforts. He faces a monumental task. Some analysts say the only real option may be diplomacy and negotiation, given the immense difficulty in freeing more than 150 hostages guarded by armed militants across Gaza.
Mr. Netanyahu was the prime minister of an earlier coalition government when Israel agreed to the best-known and controversial negotiation to release a hostage from Hamas. In 2011, a single Israel Defense Forces soldier, Gilad Shalit, was exchanged for 1,027 Palestinians and Arab Israelis in Israeli prisons, including nearly 300 inmates serving life sentences for capital crimes.
The Israeli soldier was held for five years and four months before the exchange.
Former Israeli military intelligence officer Raphael Jerusalmy said Arab nations, specifically Egypt and Jordan and perhaps Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, must pressure Hamas to release the hostages, starting with children, the sick and the elderly.
“The Israeli public is demanding that the captives be saved. But, at the same time, Israel wants to put an end to Hamas’ abuses once and for all, even if it means risking the additional loss of human life and the capture of soldiers,” Mr. Jerusalmy wrote in an analysis for Israel’s i24 News.
“Today’s tragic situation is the result of many years during which Jerusalem negotiated with Hamas, forgetting who it was dealing with,” he said. “We must of course annihilate Hamas. We’ve waited too long to do it — but it can wait a little bit longer. The priority is the captives, and the objective is to rescue them alive. And then, to settle the score with Hamas.”
Ms. Onn echoed that sentiment. She urged the U.S. and Israeli governments to prioritize the safe rescue of hostages.
“If there’s a ground incursion [by Israel into Gaza], this only gets worse,” she said.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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