Key Points
- Scores of Israelis are being held captive by militant group Hamas.
- Families are worried for loved ones being held hostage in Gaza.
- Israeli air strikes are hitting Gaza in retaliation for Saturday’s attacks by Hamas.
Ayana Neta fears for her 66-year-old mother Adrienne, who is believed to be among the scores of captives being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Adrienne was in her home Saturday morning in the farming community of Kibbutz Be’eri, in Israel’s south, when armed gunmen from the Islamist militant group arrived on motorbikes, before embarking on their rampage.
More than 100 bodies have since been discovered at Kibbutz Be’eri, which had a community of 1,000 residents near Gaza. Ten per cent of the population was wiped out in the attack. .
‘She spoke to them in Arabic’
When the militants arrived, Adrienne ran into her safe room and phoned her children, as the armed men forced their way in.
Her daughter Ayana Neta said Adrienne spoke to the militants in their language, which she learned working as a midwife delivering Bedouin and Palestinian babies in southern Israel.
“They (the fighters) told her something, she answered back in Arabic,” Neta told SBS News at her home in Israel.
“She told them in Arabic, ‘I’m on the phone with my children’, and they asked her, ‘Are you Arabic’ (sic)?”
Adrienne’s body has not been found, and it’s believed she’s now a captive in Gaza.
‘Hope they bomb everywhere they need to’
Hamas says it will keep the Israeli captives safe but warned the group would kill civilians and broadcast it, if the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) continued airstrikes on Gaza without warning.
At least 900 Palestinians have been killed and up to 4,600 wounded in the Israeli airstrikes, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
Ayana Neta fears for her mother Adrienne who is believed to be taken by Hamas. Credit: Supplied
There are also concerns that some of the captives could be hit by the airstrikes rained down by the IDF on the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for Saturday’s attacks. Israel says it’s targeting Hamas in the strikes.
Neta wants the IDF to continue its aerial bombardment of the strip, despite the risk to her mother’s life.
“I hope they bomb everywhere they need to bomb,” she said.
“I pray to God the hostages will not be in one of the buildings that is hit. But I stand with the IDF to do anything they need.”
The Hamas missiles keep coming in southern Israel
The IDF’s aerial campaign has failed to stop the near-constant flow of rockets from Gaza.
Many end up in Ashkelon, a coastal city 20km from the blockaded strip.
When SBS News arrived on the scene on Monday, an Israeli police officer was moving bricks where a rocket had landed half an hour ago.
Residents of an apartment building that was struck just 24 hours earlier were seen sitting on balconies, assessing the damage, and waiting for the next rocket to come.
Ashkelon resident Guy said he never used to bother going to his bomb shelter when he heard a red alert warning in the past.
But on Saturday, he did. The decision saved his life.
“We opened the safe room door and we saw the roof had opened up, a fire broke out and we knew exactly what had happened,” he told SBS News.
Few residents of Ashkelon have left, although those closer to Gaza have no choice.
They are now being moved to Tel Aviv for their own safety.
Among them is veteran peace activist Roni Keidar, whose neighbours and friends have been killed and kidnapped.
“There’s nothing, nothing, nothing at all that can justify what they did,” she told SBS News, referring to Hamas militants.
“And yet, I know what they’ve been through. They’re people, hurting, disillusioned, desperate, and desperate people are dangerous.”
