Shoshan Haran, her daughter and two grandchildren were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists in Israel on October 7. On Thursday, Haran recalled the effects of 50 days in captivity on her three-year-old granddaughter when they were finally released.
“Three weeks after we were released, Yahel only whispers, too afraid to make a noise. She hid from everyone, too afraid to go outside. She wet the bed and had nightmares, too afraid she may be captured again,” Haran told an informal UN Security Council meeting on Thursday, convened by the United States.
Hamas-led terrorists attacked Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 252 hostages.
The US focused the meeting — the first held at the UN solely focusing on the hostages captured by Hamas — on “condemning hostage-taking in Israel on October 7 as a psychological tool of terrorism.”
Ayelet Samerano, whose son was killed on October 7 and his body taken by Hamas, and Gili Roman, whose sister was taken hostage and released in November as part of a week-long truce deal, also addressed the gathering.
“We cannot allow the normalization of this unprecedented form of terrorism – mass hostage taking of unarmed civilians, women, children, elderly,” said Haran, now 68, founder of farming and food security charity Fair Planet.
“What you see as our problem today might become a worldwide problem to each and every country near future,” she said.
In three resolutions, the UN Security Council has called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the meeting in a UN conference room that the demand of the United States, its 25 co-sponsors, all Israelis, and many others is simple: bring the hostages who come from 20 countries home.
“This is a responsibility that President (Joe) Biden feels, to his core, and he’s committed to seeing through,” she said. “Taking hostages is cowardly – a cowardly tactic designed to instill fear, manipulate governments, and advance nefarious agendas. It violates basic principles of humanity.”
“Yet Hamas and other terrorist groups have not relented. So today, let us again demand Hamas release all remaining hostages,” she continued. “To put it simply: It would save lives on all sides.”
There was unanimous condemnation of hostage-taking by all 15 council members and other speakers, but Russia, China and Algeria — which represents the 22 Arab nations on the council — and other countries also condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which the Hamas-run health ministry says has killed over 35,000 Palestinians. The unverified figure doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants and includes some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
279 soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in the Gaza Strip.
“Unfortunately, in the occupied Palestinian territories, we see the barbaric killing machine of the Israeli occupier wreaking havoc in Gaza under the pretext of ensuring the release of the hostages,” said Algerian diplomat Ahmed Sahraoui.
Russian diplomat Georgiy Barsukov told the meeting his country had unequivocally condemned Hamas’ hostage-taking, but went after the US for focusing on the October 7 attack that triggered the war “when there are many indications that genocide is being committed against Palestinians in Gaza – and when the Israelis are defying the overwhelming majority of the international community and launching an operation in Rafah, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians.”
Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan told the meeting that 132 hostages taken on October 7 are still being held in Gaza and that this was the “first meeting being held by any UN body to focus on their suffering and ways to release them.”
“The hostages are the most urgent and critical humanitarian issue that the council must focus on,” Erdan said.
“Has the council condemned Hamas and demanded they permit the Red Cross to check on the hostages? Have you imposed sanctions on Hamas leadership until they release the hostages? What action has been taken?” he continued. “In the past 32 weeks since October 7, the Security Council and the UN have done practically, practically nothing to secure the release of the hostages.”
“It is heartbreaking and amoral. Our hostages are enduring beatings, torture, and rape.”