For Abbey Onn, the blaring of sirens last Saturday at first “didn’t seem scary.” But the Virginia native, who has lived in Israel with her family for the past eight years and has grown accustomed to the sound, soon discovered in the most gut-wrenching way possible that the nation was facing a major terrorist attack — and her family was trapped in the crossfire.
“We began getting messages, videos, photos, of Hamas infiltrating the south [of Israel] and understood that the sirens meant something else. Within a few hours, we were getting messages from the family WhatsApp group that … Hamas was in the kibbutz,” Ms. Onn said in a phone interview Tuesday from Nir Oz, where her family members live.
Five of her cousins were taken by Hamas gunmen, she said, including 80-year-old Carmela Dan and 12-year-old Erez Kalderon. Video footage posted to social media appears to show Erez being taken captive at gunpoint by Hamas militants. His capture came after Hamas reportedly set fire to their home and much of the kibbutz in an effort to force out Israelis hiding in basements, safe rooms, or elsewhere.
“At some point on Sunday we got video of 12-year-old Erez in the hands of Hamas,” Ms. Onn said. “I immediately burst into tears and started shaking. It’s any parent’s worst nightmare.”
Ms. Onn’s five cousins were among the hostages taken by Hamas during their Saturday rampage. Many were dragged from their homes in southern Israel, while others were captured while attending the Tribe of Nova music festival not far from the Gaza border.
Over 1,000 Israelis died in the attack and more than 3,400 were wounded, Israeli officials said, while nearly 800 Palestinians have died so far in Gaza, Hamas’ stronghold, as Israel carries out an unprecedented counterterrorism mission against the group.
Israel and the Palestinian militant movement that controls Gaza have clashed before, as recently as 2014. But the taking of an estimated 100 to 150 Israeli and foreign national hostages by Hamas in its lightning attack Saturday has introduced a searing new complication into the struggle. Hamas officials have already threatened to execute hostages — on camera — if Israel bombs civilian targets in Gaza without advance warning.
From innocent young children to the elderly, heartbreaking stories of the civilians taken prisoner by Hamas have come to light over the past several days, putting human faces to the staggering violence. Israeli officials said they’ve identified most of them and have started to notify their families.
President Biden on Tuesday confirmed that some of the hostages are U.S. citizens. Citizens from other nations — Germany and Thailand among them — also appear to be among those held captive by Hamas, meaning numerous governments around the world now have a direct vested interest in securing their safe release.
“We now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas,” Mr. Biden said during a speech at the White House. “I’m directing my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts, because as president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world.”
Hamas officials say the prisoners are being held in “safe places and resistance tunnels” underground, which run from Gaza into Israel. Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, reportedly said Tuesday that the group will not discuss prisoner exchanges with Israel “until the end of the battle.” Those comments underscore Hamas’ plan to use the hostages as both leverage against Israel and as literal human shields.
On Monday, Abu Obeida, spokesman of the Hamas military wing known as the Qassam Brigades, said the group won’t hesitate to kill its prisoners.
“We declare that we will respond to any targeting of our people who are safe in their homes without warning, with the execution of our civilian hostages, and we will broadcast it with audio and video,” Mr. Obeida said, according to a translation of his message.
Monumental task
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Israeli Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch as the head of the hostage-rescue efforts. He faces a monumental task. Some analysts say that given the immense difficulty in freeing more than 150 hostages guarded by armed militants spread across Gaza, the only real option may be diplomacy and negotiation.
Mr. Netanyahu was the prime minister of an earlier coalition government when Israel agreed to the best-known — and controversial — negotiation for the release of a hostage from Hamas. In 2011, a single Israeli Defense Forces soldier, Gilad Shalit, was exchanged for some 1,027 Palestinian and Arab-Israeli prisoners being held in Israeli jails, including nearly 300 inmates serving life sentences for capital crimes.
The Israeli soldier had been held for five years and four months before being exchanged.
Former Israeli military intelligence officer Raphael Jerusalmy argued this week that Arab nations — specifically Egypt and Jordan, and perhaps Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — must pressure Hamas to begin releasing the hostages, starting with children, the sick, and the elderly.
“The Israeli public is demanding that the captives be saved. But, at the same time, Israel wants to put an end to Hamas’ abuses once and for all, even if it means risking the additional loss of human life and the capture of soldiers,” Mr. Jerusalmy wrote in an analysis for Israel’s i24 News.
“Today’s tragic situation is the result of many years during which Jerusalem negotiated with Hamas, forgetting who it was dealing with,” he said. “We must of course annihilate Hamas. We’ve waited too long to do it — but it can wait a little bit longer. The priority is the captives, and the objective is to rescue them alive. And then, to settle the score with Hamas.”
Ms. Onn echoed that sentiment, urging both the U.S. and Israeli governments to prioritize the safe rescue of hostages first.
“If there’s a ground incursion [by Israel into Gaza], this only gets worse,” she said.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.