The families of French citizens held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza on Thursday, October 12, urged President Emmanuel Macron to step in to help secure their release.
Batsheva Yahalomi, whose 12-year-old son has been missing since Saturday, told a news conference in Tel Aviv that she wanted "French intervention" and details about him and others being held.
"I think France is very generous and compassionate and I'm sure President Macron, who many of us voted for, will do something... (and) get involved," added her mother, Jocelyne.
Hamas fighters killed some 1,200 people in Israel, most of them civilians, in their dawn attack from the Gaza Strip on Saturday. They also took about 150 people hostage.
Samuel Ben David, whose sister Celine Ben David Nagar disappeared with her daughter Ellie on Saturday morning, said he wanted photos of everyone seized to be sent to their families. Meitav Journo, 27, whose sister Karin is missing, said: "I want to speak to Emmanuel Macron directly. I want... my sister to return now."
Macron on Tuesday denounced Hamas for "unacceptable blackmail" after it threatened to execute some of the hostages for every unannounced strike by Israel.
On Saturday, he denounced the Hamas incursion from Gaza as "terrorist attacks," promising his "full solidarity with the victims, their families and their loved ones."