Hamas is believed to have taken hundreds of innocent civilians, including children, hostage in Israel, forcing the Jewish state into a desperate race to find and free them, as the terror group threatened on Monday to execute the captives.
Israeli authorities have not yet provided specific details about the number and identities of the kidnapped victims; However, a preliminary assessment shared by a senior military officer with the New York Times suggests that at least 150 people have been captured.
They include Raz, 5, and Aviv, 3, their devastated father, Yoni Asher, revealed on Monday.
Asher’s entire world came crashing down on Saturday when he recognized his daughters and mother in a video circulating on social media showing kidnapped Israelis being forced onto a flatbed truck, surrounded by armed men.
He had last spoken to his wife, Doron Asher Katz, 34, earlier that day, when she called him from her mother’s home in southern Israel, according to Bloomberg.
“She told me that terrorists had infiltrated the house,” he told the outlet. “The phone was disconnected.”
Raz, 5, and Aviv, 3, are 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 attacked the venue. , murdering hundreds. Facebook
It is unclear where the terrorist group is hiding the hundreds it brutally snatched. Gaza may be a small strip of land under heavy surveillance and surrounded by the Israel Defense Forces, but it remains somewhat opaque to Israeli intelligence agencies, experts said.
However, there is no doubt that those abducted (who also include Israeli soldiers, elderly people and women) are in imminent and extraordinary danger.
On Monday, Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, the terrorist group’s military arm, chillingly declared that they would begin killing their prisoners if the Israeli government continues bombing Palestinian lands.
The gunmen captured Argamani, 25, while her boyfriend watched. Facebook Argamani begged her kidnappers not to kill her. They left shortly after. Via REUTERS
“Any attack on innocent civilians without warning will unfortunately be met with the execution of one of the captives in our custody, and we will be forced to broadcast this execution,” said Abu Obeida, 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 more than three decades after seizing the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fire rockets at the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches largest attack on Israel in 50 years.
More than 700 Israelis have been killed, more than 2,150 wounded and 100 taken hostage and the death toll is expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli cities.
Hamas terrorists were seen taking women hostage and parading them down the street in gruesome videos.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and promised that Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials report that at least 300 Palestinians have been killed and 2,200 wounded.
“We regret this decision, but we hold the Zionist enemy and its leaders responsible for it.”
That statement highlighted one of the main reasons Hamas seemed so determined to capture innocent civilians: the leverage it could give them.
“The cruel reality is that Hamas took hostages as an insurance policy against Israeli retaliation, particularly a massive ground attack, and to exchange for Palestinian prisoners,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Palestinian militants return to the Gaza Strip with the body of an Israeli soldier on Saturday. AP
“Will it restrict Israel’s response?” she asked. “If the numbers are great, how could they not be?”
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 kidnapped civilians. Please do something to force Hamas to release them alive!” he pleaded as he burst into tears.
“This is unprecedented: nothing like this has ever happened before. We need everyone’s help. We need the president of Türkiye, we need the king of Egypt. We need everyone to help us! Please! “I’m sorry, I’m so excited.”
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 attacks held a photograph of festival attendee Shani Louk, who was kidnapped and paraded by Hamas terrorists.ZUMAPRESS.com
In another heartbreaking viral video, Israeli woman Noa Argamani, 25, and her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, were kidnapped at a trance music festival held on the plains of the Negev desert.
Many tried to flee from 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 was not murdered; Instead, she was put on the back of a motorcycle and taken away, crying as Or walked close to her with her hands behind her back.
Shani Louk, a young tattoo artist from Germany, was stripped naked and killed after gunmen attacked the festival. Instagram/hanukkk
“Do not kill me! No, no, no,” she screamed, as her helpless boyfriend watched.
Others didn’t get that far.
Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German tattoo artist, was last seen on camera dancing and laughing at the festival.
Hours later, Hamas gunmen stripped her naked and murdered her, according to the Independent.
Armed fighters paraded his naked corpse through the streets in a truck, shouting “Allahu Akbar” as they went.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise of “powerful revenge” against Hamas, the hostage situation poses a “grave dilemma” for Israel.
“The fear is that when a ground operation begins, Hamas will threaten to execute hostages every hour, every two hours, and that will turn into a really heated debate,” said veteran Israeli political commentator Ehud Yaari.
“It will limit the directions and areas in which the IDF can be active,” added Michael Milstein, former head of the Palestinian department of Israeli military intelligence.
“It will make things much more complicated.”
Fire and smoke rise after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on Sunday. AP Armed Palestinian terrorist takes hostage at music festival near Kibbutz Reim. Hamas has kidnapped dozens of hostages. ANONYMOUS/AFP via Getty Images
But not everyone has the same reservations.
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s powerful finance minister and settler leader, demanded Saturday night that the Israeli army “brutally beat Hamas and fail to meaningfully consider the captive issue.”
“In war you have to be brutal,” he said.
“We need to strike a blow that has not been seen in 50 years and end Gaza.”
Others seemed to agree that the captives will not stop Israel from avenging the attack, which has left hundreds dead and thousands wounded on both sides.
“We don’t know where the Israelis are sheltering,” said Yaakov Amidror, Netanyahu’s former national security adviser.
“But this whole thing about captured Israelis won’t stop Israel from bombing Gaza until Hamas is destroyed.”
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