Families of the Missing Following Hamas Assault Vow To Eradicate the Organization

Israeli police have set up an information center for the families of the missing to provide details to facilitate ongoing investigations

Following the unprecedented terror attack suffered by towns on Israel’s southern borders on Saturday, Israel is still in the process of dissecting what took place. Meanwhile, hundreds of Israelis remain missing, believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas and taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Their families are desperate for any piece of information on the whereabouts of their loved ones. 

According to the government’s coordinator of hostages and missing persons, 81 families of hostages taken by Hamas have contacted the government.

Omri Almog, an Israeli citizen whose sister is missing together with her entire family, arrived on Tuesday at the information center for missing Israelis set up by police at the airport complex. Almog told The Media Line that his sister, her husband Nadav, and their four kids lived in one of the communities most affected by the attack, Kfar Aza.

“It’s not confirmed yet,” Almog said. “But Nadav [has] probably been found dead along with one of the older girls, probably Yam. But we are waiting for the final identifications, and we are hoping that the others were kidnapped into Gaza [so there is a chance that they are still alive].”

As Israeli officials continue to search for answers behind the catastrophic Intelligence failure and the brutal killing and kidnapping of citizens on the southern border, families of the hundreds missing are gathering to provide details of their missing loved ones and DNA samples to the police.

Salit Shahar Hochman is one of the social workers who escort the families through all the processes at the center. She told The Media Line that it starts by giving the details of the missing, later describing to the police their last contact with them and the latest information they had of them, and lastly, providing DNA samples to be compared to bodies in case new ones are found at the sites of the attacks. 

“They are coming here—the families search for their loved ones. Sometimes it’s parents, sometimes it is a child,” Hochman said.

It’s like Pearl Harbor and September 11 at the same time

Kfar Aza, the place where Almog’s missing family used to live, “was a beautiful kibbutz with 900 people. Now it looks like a war zone,” Almog said. “They didn’t even pick up all the bodies from where they are. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like Pearl Harbor and September 11 at the same time,” he added. 

Hochman says that the families still have some hope to hold onto as the facts become clearer, as there is still much to investigate and discover around the area of the assault.

“We need hope. The last thing that will die is hope,” Almog said. 

Efrat Alfassi was notified by the police that her missing cousin who attended the music festival in Reim was found dead when the Israeli forces arrived at the site. 

“My cousin Chanan Amar was found murdered at the Kibbutz Reim on Saturday, and I just came to take his phone from the police. They found it on the ground after they removed the bodies,” Alfassi told The Media Line.

Alfassi, who attended the party as well and left one day before the attack started, described what a colorful place it was. According to the police, her cousin showed heroism until the last minute. 

“They told us that they found him at a nearby construction site protecting two girls. That was Chanan, Chanan had a huge heart—he took care of everyone, he was full of energy, he was always happy and wanted everyone to be like that. He was a good person, everyone loved him. We don’t know how to move forward from here,” Alfassi continued. 

The families are still struggling to digest the horror that their loved ones went through.

“From 6:30 in the morning till 3 pm, Hamas terrorists went everywhere in the kibbutz and did whatever they wanted,” Almog said.

“They put bombs in the cars, they killed someone and put bombs on their bodies, they burned houses, they opened houses, and they did whatever they want. You can just imagine how bad it was. The way they are is … animals. We will fight animals,” he added.

In Israel, we were asleep in this situation. We got pummeled. But now we are going to fight back and we know how to fight.

But Israelis are determined not to let anything like this happen again and vow to eradicate Hamas, the group responsible for the slaughtering of their families. 

“In Israel, we were asleep in this situation. We got pummeled. But now we are going to fight back, and we know how to fight. When we fight, we are going to finish them forever. And they know that now,” Almog asserted.