When the first group of Israeli hostages were released from Gaza under the truce, Noam Peri’s elderly father was not there. But they brought back the news that he was still alive. “We have a sign of my father’s life, we know he is alive from other people in the community who were released yesterday,” said Peri, whose 79-year-old father Haim was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the Gaza border, by Hamas militants, on October 7.
Without giving details, Peri said he had received news of some of the 13 people returning to Israel on Friday, the first day of a four-day ceasefire and hostage swap deal with Hamas that also allowed for their release. prisoners. With the exception of one of the hostages released on Friday – including six elderly women, three mothers and their four children – all came from Nir Oz, one of the communities hardest hit when Hamas fighters crossed the border, killing about 1,200 people died in southern Israel. and kidnap another 240.
In Nir Oz, 75 people were captured and 29 killed, Peri said. “One in four people in this community have been murdered or kidnapped,” many of them neighbors or old friends of his parents, kibbutz veterans. The news that the father is alive has given the anguished family new hope, but there is no guarantee that he will leave soon, or at all: the hostages to be released under the ceasefire are women and people of similar age or under 18 years old. years old. “It brings a lot of hope, but we don’t know how long they can keep it up,” he said, describing his father as “a brave but unhealthy man” who survived a heart attack and “depends on medication to survive.”
Even for those whose loved ones have returned, the joy is tempered by the thoughts of others. In a video released by the hostage family forum, Roy Zichri Munder, whose nine-year-old brother was released to us on Friday, said: “Today we are not in a party mood, we are happy, but we are not celebrating because there are more hostages in custody .” Munder offered support to those still trapped. “They will come back soon,” he told them, appealing to their families: “Don’t lose hope.”
For most, the wait continues. Nadav Rudaeff has no indication of life for his father, Lior, 61, an ambulance driver and volunteer paramedic, who suffered a heart attack two years ago. “We are very concerned because he is not on any medication,” he said.
Ruby Chen also has no news about the fate of her son, 19-year-old soldier Itai, who was kidnapped while on duty protecting the region’s kibbutzim. “It’s hard to describe the feeling of not knowing whether our son is alive or not. It’s something that goes beyond pain.”
For days the family did not know where he was. His middle son was listed as missing until two army officers knocked on the door at six in the morning. They immediately suspected the worst. “That means someone is going to give us a very bad message. The heart stops,” he says. “But we are the lucky ones: the report we received was that Itai had been kidnapped,” he continued, “and not the other report that many others received that day.”
Source: DN
