One of the three Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip who were reported missing until Thursday has Portuguese nationality, revealed the Israeli ambassador in Lisbon, Dor Shapira.
“After 90 days of disappearance, Idan Shtivi’s family was informed today that he was kidnapped at the Nova dance festival and taken to Gaza,” the diplomat said on his X network account.
According to the Israeli ambassador, “Idan also has Portuguese nationality and his brother and mother visited Portugal last month to ask anyone for help for his release.”
Three Israelis reported missing since the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7 in Israel are being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, the Tel Aviv army announced today.
“Three citizens missing so far have been identified as hostages and their families have been informed,” said army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
This announcement brings to 132 the number of people still kidnapped in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, according to data from Israeli authorities.
The relatives of Idan Shtivi, Tsachi Idan and Eli and Yossi Sharaby, hostages of Portuguese nationality held by the Hamas movement since the October 7 attacks in Israel, were in Lisbon last month, where on the 6th they held a press conference giving an account of his desperation and hope and insistently asking for efforts for his release.
“It is the obligation of Israel and Portugal to release him because he is a Portuguese citizen (…) I must have a sign, a sign from him that he is fine and also give a sign that we are fine, that we are doing everything.” for him,” said Dalit, the mother of Idan Shtivi, who was among those missing at the Nova festival in the south of the country and where Hamas killed about 260 people.
On the eve of the press conference, these relatives of the hostages gathered at the Lisbon synagogue to pray for their release and “the end of the nightmare”, reconstructing the events of October 7 in Lusa.
Moved, Omri Shviti recalled that day when his brother, Idan, 28, “the best friend you could ever have,” went to the music festival. According to first reports, he suffered a car accident while trying to escape from the terrorists and died four days later in a Gaza hospital as a result of his injuries.
But Omri Svhiti did not want to believe it: “We firmly believe that he is alive and we pray for that every day. We don’t want to know about politics, we never wanted to know. We just want him to know how to come home,” she said.
After October 7, fighting only ceased for one week – between November 24 and 30 – in a truce brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, which included the release of 105 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners and the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The most recent conflict between Israel and Hamas was triggered by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, massacring some 1,140 people, mostly civilians but also 400 soldiers, and taking more than 200 hostages. according to Tel Aviv figures. officials.
In retaliation, Israel, which has promised to eliminate the Palestinian movement considered terrorist by the European Union and the United States, launched a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip, where, according to the local government, more than 22,000 people have already died. -most of them women, children and adolescents- and more than 57,000 injured, also mostly civilians.
The conflict also displaced around 1.9 million people (about 85% of the population), according to the UN, plunging the overcrowded and poor Palestinian enclave into a serious humanitarian crisis.
Source: TSF
