According to the Israeli military, 155 people have been taken hostage from Israel into Gaza. At the same time, a ground invasion by Israeli forces is only a few hours away, according to experts.
Such an attack could of course put the lives of the hostages in danger, believes war historian Asgeir Ueland, who lives in Israel and knows the Israeli military well.
– A ground invasion will probably increase the risk for the hostages, but I consider it too likely that it will not dampen the offensive. It is also in Hamas’ and Islamic Jihad’s interest to keep as many people as possible alive due to possible later negotiations, says Ueland to NRK.
Ten in the family taken hostage
– We ask Norway and other countries to pressure Hamas to release the hostages, and not least to get Hamas to give us signs that they are alive.
Annalee Milstein talks about her family of 10, who have been taken hostage by Hamas.
Photo: Private / NRK
That’s what Annalee Milstein says to NRK. Her husband’s family of ten people was taken hostage by Hamas on Saturday morning a week ago, and probably taken to Gaza. Milstein herself and her husband happened to be out of the kibbutz when the attack happened.
– We called someone in the family, the person who answered on the other end spoke poor Hebrew and good Arabic. We picked up a word in Hebrew, and it was the word kidnapped. Afterwards, we were able to trace several of the phones, and they were in the Gaza Strip, says Milstein to NRK.
This is supposed to be the burned-down house of the family, where several of the 10 lived. The house is located in Kibbutz Beeri, near Gaza.
Among the ten to be abducted are three children, the youngest is five years old. She says several of the kidnapped family members are elderly, and need daily medication that they did not get with them. When she and her husband returned to the family home in a kibbutz near Gaza, they found the house burned down and no trace of the family.
These are the 10 in the family, who will be taken hostage to Gaza.
Photo: private / NRK
– It is a big dilemma
Israel’s ambassador to Norway, Avraham Nir-Feldklein, says the hostage situation upsets an entire nation.
– October 7 last Saturday was the worst day for Jews since the Holocaust. We are now seeing crimes not seen since the Islamic State, IS. Close your eyes and think. Many children, captured by a brutal Islamist terrorist organization. What kind of animals are they, says an outraged ambassador.
Israel’s ambassador to Norway Avraham Nir-Feldklein
– Israel is now planning a ground invasion, which could put the lives of the hostages in further danger. What do you think about it?
– It is a big dilemma. As you know, in the past we have been willing to release 1,000 terrorists to get one released Israeli soldier. That will not be the situation now. Now we have faced crimes not seen since the Islamic State ravaged.
– I do not know exactly what the Israeli military will do, but we cannot continue to have such a neighbor, such a monster on the other side of the fence. So we have to achieve both. To eliminate Hamas, and also ensure the safe return of our citizens. They will not be the same as when they were taken hostage. But we have to get them home, says the ambassador.
– Roker at Israel’s founding soul
Hanne Eggen Røislien has researched the Israeli military forces, and knows the country well. She says she herself knows 13 people who have been killed in the attack by Hamas. The attack and especially the hostage-taking has shaken the nation, she says.
– It is Israel’s fundamental soul that has been shaken. Israel must be safe for everyone, that is in a way the contract. The second is that there is great unity in Israel around what Israel should be and stand for. And the third is that the Israeli Defense Forces, like all military forces, have an obligation to ensure that no one is forgotten behind enemy lines. They have an incredibly strong unity in supporting each other in such situations. They are well trained in this, and it is almost an ideology among the Israeli forces that no one should be forgotten.
– Does this also have something to do with the history of the Jews?
– Yes, this brings to life the memory of the persecution of the Jews, and the fear that it is not possible to be safe anywhere, says Røislien.
– We are neighbors of a terrorist regime
Louise Kahn is a Norwegian Jew, living in Israel. She talks to us between trips out into the hallway with the two children, where they seek shelter when the flight alarm goes off. Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel.
She says the hostages are what preoccupies Israelis now, and many are despairing because very little information is getting out. What a ground invasion could mean for the safety of the hostages, she does not dare to think.
– But we probably have to go into Gaza. There is great support for that now. Many will be killed. but we have no alternative. We are neighbors of a terrorist regime, and we cannot live like this any longer. And I think I speak on behalf of most Israelis now, including those on the left like myself, says Kahn.
Yesterday, NRK spoke to Louise Kahn, just before she and her family had to go out into the hallway during a rocket alarm. The lift is the safest place during rocket attacks. They don’t have bomb bays. The rockets were launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
– I said my last prayers
27-year-old Michel Ohana is originally from Israel, but now lives in Portugal. She was going to visit her sister in Israel who had given birth. She also attended the music festival in a field near Gaza, which was attacked by Hamas soldiers on Saturday morning.
Michal lives in Portugal, but came to Israel to help her sister have a baby. Now the sister is lying with the child on the floor below her in the hospital in Tel Aviv. Here is the baby visiting Michal.
Photo: Private / NRK
From the hospital bed in Tel Aviv, she talks to NRK about the attack. They were fired upon, and she hid under an abandoned tanker. Hamas soldiers hit her in the calf with a shot, and she received shrapnel in her stomach. She lay like that for six hours
– They also threw grenades at us, I said my last prayers, says Ohan.
This is Michal Ohana’s own footage from the youth party on a field near Gaza, where Hamas fighters attacked last Saturday morning.
Now she lies in hospital with injuries, and thinks about close friends who have been taken hostage by Hamas, inside the Gaza Strip. NRK spoke to her before and after treatment with a psychologist at the hospital.
– When the army enters Gaza, the situation for the hostages becomes more difficult. But we can hope that Hamas is interested in keeping them alive, in order to exchange prisoners with Israel, she says.
– Does Israel have any other choice but to go in with ground forces?
– No, he answers shortly.
2023-10-15 20:59:53
#shot #Hamas #friends #hostages
