The brother and sister, held hostage by Hamas, learned that their mother had been killed in the Oct. 7 attack only after they were released on Saturday, their uncle said.
Noam Or, 17, his 13-year-old sister Alma and another female hostage were kept in a locked room in a house in the Gaza Strip after they were kidnapped during an assault on their kibbutz.
The children were among 17 hostages released Saturday night when they discovered their 50-year-old mother, Yonath Or, had been killed in the attack. Her father Dror, 50, who remains missing, is believed to have been kidnapped and is still in the Gaza Strip.
Noam and Alma were put in a stolen car and driven to Gaza after the family’s hideout was set on fire during the Kibbutz Be’eri massacre last month.
Footage filmed on Saturday showed the brother and sister holding hands as masked Hamas militants handed them over to the Red Cross after 50 days in captivity.
As the agreed four-day lull in the conflict came to an end, Ahal Besorai, Noam and Alma’s British-Israeli uncle, spoke to him. I her trials.
Mr Besorai said: “The first news they received was that their mother had been killed. They didn’t know about it.
“From what I understand, it was a very, very difficult first hour, a lot of tears, a lot of heartache.
“If I were her age and in captivity, the thought that after all this time I would be able to meet my mother and nestle in her arms would support me.
“And when I come back and find out that my mother was killed and is no longer alive, the whole dream that kept me alive suddenly dissolves.”
On October 7, Noam and Alma were able to tell their family for the first time how they had been held hostage.
They were hiding in a safe house when Hamas attacked, killing about 130 of the kibbutz’s roughly 1,200 residents, including children. Others, such as Noam and Alma, were taken hostage.
“When the terrorists entered, set fire to the house and broke into the security room, they jumped out of the window with the children and tried to hide on a neighbor’s balcony,” Besorai said.
“So they were separated from their parents from the very beginning, contrary to what we initially thought.
“The terrorists grabbed her, took her to the kibbutz car they stole and put Noam in the trunk. Alma was at the front with eight other armed terrorists, and they took her to Gaza, where she was being held.”
A survivor of the attack saw them abducted by Hamas members after gunmen set the family’s home on fire.
Last month, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Besoray that Yonath’s phone was traced to Gaza at 11:45 a.m. on October 7, the day of the attack, raising hopes that the children’s mother was still alive and being held hostage. . But later her body was identified among the victims of the massacre.
Mr. Besorai’s 89-year-old father and his other sister were rescued from the kibbutz by the IDF after hiding for several hours as gunmen escaped.
While being held hostage in Gaza, Noam and Alma became involved with another female hostage, approximately 40 years old, with whom they were locked in a room under armed guard.
“It was no walk in the park. It wasn’t like watching TV and enjoying life,” Besorai said.
“There were three of them in the house, not in the tunnel. They supported each other in a way, so there was a kind of connection.
“I asked Noam how you survived, and he said that when I was in trouble, they supported me, and when they were in trouble, I supported them.”
“They were guarded by Hamas terrorists.”
Out of respect for the families of the other hostages, he did not want to reveal the name of the woman they were being held with or talk too much about the conditions in which they were held.
On the eve of Besorai’s release, he was told his niece and nephew were on the list of people to be released on Saturday, but the woman they were being held with did not seem to know where they were being taken.
“They didn’t want to tell the woman who was with them that they were going to be released – terrorists,” he said.
“So they pulled out [Noam and Alma] on the street I more or less took her to the toilet. They then handcuffed them, blindfolded them, took them to a car on the street, and then drove them to where the cars were turned over to the Red Cross.
“So this poor woman never knew the fate of these two. She must have even believed that they killed her.
On Saturday, 13 Israelis, including seven children, and four Thai hostages were released in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank.
Mr Besorai saw images of the siblings holding hands as they were surrounded by Hamas fighters as they walked towards Red Cross vehicles.
“To me it shows so much shared experience, a hand holding the firm hand of a brother and sister. There’s something magical about it for me,” he says.
The siblings spent 24 hours in hospital and underwent medical examinations before being released to their grandparents’ home on Sunday evening.
Mr. Besorai, who lives in the Philippines, spoke to his niece and nephew via Zoom for about an hour on Saturday night after they arrived at the hospital in Israel, he said.
The family hoped the children’s release would shed light on their father’s fate, but they were still waiting for information about him, Mr. Besorai said.
Although it was obvious his niece and nephew had lost weight, Alma had a “huge smile and sparkling eyes” when they talked, he said.
“You see the reserves of strength that they have inside that they can draw on to get through this ordeal,” he said.
Israel and Hamas reportedly disagreed over the list of hostages and prisoners to be released on Monday and called for an extension of the pause in fighting in the Gaza Strip.
An official briefed on the release of the Israeli hostages told Reuters that mediators were working with both sides to resolve problems and avoid delays as the ceasefire reached its final day.
“There is a small problem with today’s lists. “The Qataris are working with both sides to resolve the issue and avoid delays,” the official told Reuters.
On Sunday evening, following the release of a four-year-old Israeli-American girl, President Biden expressed hope that the ceasefire could be extended “so we can continue to release more hostages and provide them with more humanitarian assistance” in the country. . Emergency in Gaza.”
Source: I News
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