They describe Hamas kidnappings in Israel

Kaya Calderon last heard from half of her family at 8:26 a.m. Saturday morning.

“They’re here,” her sister Sahar, 16, wrote in a text message.

“Who?” 21-year-old Gaya replied.

“We hide from them,” replied Sahar.

“We left the house.”

“where are you?” Kaya asked.

“where are you going?”.

no answer.

It wasn’t until Sunday that a terrified Calderon saw signs of her missing relatives on social media. A video has surfaced showing an Israeli boy being pushed onto the road by Palestinian militants.

“I’m scrolling through Instagram and I see a video… my brother pops up,” Calderon said.

Erez, 12, and four other members of the Calderon family are feared to be among the roughly 150, many of them civilians taken hostage by Palestinian militants, including Hamas, during the largest invasion of Israeli territory in 50 years.

Hostages were taken at homes in towns along Israel’s border with Gaza, including Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the small village of Calderones, as well as military bases and a garden party.

Among them are civilians, soldiers, people with disabilities, children, grandparents and even a 9-month-old baby. At least one of the Palestinian hostages is also believed to be living in Israel, where a bus driver spent the night near the party after taking the Israelis there, his family said.

The capture of many Israelis by Palestinian militants has pushed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into uncharted territory, not only because of the large number of hostages but also because of Hamas’s threats to kill them.

Since Hamas seized Gaza in 2007, gunmen have kidnapped a handful of Israelis, including an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, whose capture deeply shocked Israel.

He was released in 2011, but only after protracted negotiations and the release of about a thousand Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Now, having so many Israelis in Gaza means that Israel is at risk of killing its own citizens. Yesterday, Hamas said four Israeli hostages were killed in an Israeli strike, although the claim could not be independently verified.

Eyal Hulata, who served as Israel’s national security adviser until January, said Hamas may hope that the capture of dozens of prisoners will increase the chances of a large prisoner swap with Israel.

But for Israel, in the midst of one of the worst disasters in its history, now is not the time to consider such an exchange, Hulata argued.

He acknowledged that some Israeli prisoners could be killed in an Israeli attack, but it was Hamas’ responsibility to “place them as human shields”.

“I want to bring everyone home. But we can’t do that until the other side thinks they can get away with it,” Hulata said.

In the past, Egypt and Qatar have played an important role as mediators between Israel and Hamas, with the two adversaries negotiating over captives. But for now, Yaron Bloom, a senior Israeli intelligence official, said the sides are only in the “messaging phase” rather than direct negotiations to release the prisoners.

“My assessment is that they are sending this message: Hamas is responsible, and if you touch even a hair on the heads of those old men, women, children and soldiers, Israel will be outraged,” Bloom said.

Yoni Asher’s nightmare began early Saturday morning during a phone call with his wife, Doran Asher Katz.

In a whisper, Asher Katz said he, her mother and her two young daughters were trapped inside his mother’s safe room in a village near the Gaza border.

“She told me, ‘There are terrorists in the house,'” Yoni Asher recalled.

Then came the bad news: Asher Katz’s mother’s spouse, Kady Moses, left the safe room to try to reason with the intruders.

“They left and took him with them,” said Yoni Asher.

The 37-year-old man believed his wife and children were safe. But then the phone lines went down.

This was the last time Yoni Asher heard from his wife.

By remotely tracking her cell phone, she found the device had been taken to southern Gaza on Saturday, where she said she too had been abducted.

Then, a video of the kidnapped Israelis being driven through Gaza by armed men in the back of a van went viral on social media. In the recording, a fighter tries to spread a kind of blindness in a woman’s eyes.

Yoni Asher said she recognized the man. It was his wife.

He described his daughters, Raz, five, and Aviv, three, and his father-in-law, Efrat Katz, 67, crushed next to him.

“I can’t sleep; I live outside my own body,” said Yoni Asher.

“I have two small children, two girls. These small children should not be captured or held by terrorists.”

Yarden Bibas, 36, and his wife, Shiri, 30, also fled to the safe room of their home on Saturday. Bibas, armed with a small pistol, sent text messages to his family while militants fired automatic weapons outside his windows.

“I love you all,” Bibas wrote. Then 30 minutes later: “They’re coming in.” Later, the messages stopped.

Her relatives later noted that they had seen pictures circulating on social media showing Shiri and her two bright red-haired children, one of whom was just 9 months old, imprisoned by Palestinian militants.

There is no sign of Bipass.

Shiri’s parents, Yossi Silberman and his wife Margit, are also missing and feared abducted.

“I hope they’re alive and they’re together. And I want them home with me so I can hug them tight again,” said Yifat Zeiler, the couple’s daughter-in-law, through tears.

“We feel that those responsible do not know what to do because this is a situation we have never experienced before. That is the feeling of Israel. It is a disaster.”