Israelis put up own resources to get loved ones snatched by Hamas home
Hamas gunmen are marshalling their own resources to get their loved ones home.
Israel's military said Sunday it had confirmed that 126 people have been held captive since Hamas militants from the blockaded Gaza Strip attacked southern Israel on October 7. They gunned down civilians and dragged dozens of others, Israelis and foreigners, back to Gaza.
Among them were children, including nine-month-old Kfir and four-year-old Arial Bibes, snatched along with their mother Shiri.
Their aunt, Yrat Zailer, said help must come quickly.
«These are innocent civilians. They have rights.
Pressure should be placed on Turkey, Egypt for the Red Cross to visit them,» Zailer said at a press conference.
«We must bring them back home alive. They were kidnapped alive, they must stay alive,» she said, tears streaking down her cheeks.
Helping to support relatives of the missing, like Zailer, is a businessman at the heart of the group called "Hostages and Missing Families Forum".
«When I understood what happened last Saturday, I immediately thought that for once, I will be fighting this war not in uniform but with my address book,» he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Hamas militants killed more than 1,300 people in Israel, which has responded with heavy bombardments of Hamas targets in the densely populated Gaza Strip, where more than 2,300 people have been killed.
The militants have said, without providing evidence, that 22 captives were killed in Israeli air strikes.
