Israelis appeal for help after discovering family among the detainees held by Hamas

After seeing her daughter in the extremists’ video, Shani Louk’s mother asked for the return of her daughter — or the body —

Numerous alleged kidnapping victims have been identified by distressed family members from social media recordings of their alleged abductions, it was revealed on Saturday. Among them are an Israeli couple and a German-Israeli tattoo artist. The government has come under fire from many for not assisting them in finding their loved ones.

Members of Shani Louk’s family think she was abducted when Hamas invaded the Nova Festival, a late-night rave close to the Gaza border, early on Saturday morning. In a widely circulated Hamas hostage-taking video released hours later, which appears to show her face-down and unconscious in the back of a pickup truck as militants encircling her body cheer, her parents informed the Washington Post that they recognised her tattoos and long dreadlocks. Louk’s mother issued a request for “any help or any news” on her daughter after watching the video.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, Noa Argamani, another participant at the Nova Festival, is seen pleading for her life as she is taken away by gunmen on a motorbike as her lover, Avinatan Or, stands helplessly by. Emergency agencies reportedly contacted Or’s brother about the video, and he stated that “very long lists” of the missing and presumed kidnapped were being passed around in social media groups as those who were missing loved ones took matters into their own hands.

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On Saturday, according to Hamas, hundreds of Israeli hostages were abducted and carried to various parts of Gaza. According to reports, militant officials want to exchange the captives for Hamas prisoners. A Hamas spokesman informed the group’s Al-Aqsa TV channel that the number of hostages captured is “many times greater than what Netanyahu thinks,” cautioning Israel to consider its response carefully since “whatever happens to the people of the Gaza Strip will happen to” the captives.

More than 100 Israelis are currently being held as prisoners in Gaza, according to confirmation from the official press office of Israel. Officials, however, refuted rumours that Egypt is negotiating with Hamas on Israel’s behalf and stated that the government is not currently discussing the release of hostages. According to media sources, there are more than 170 kidnapped Israelis. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted on Sunday that there are very likely some Americans among the hostages.

Gal Hirsch, a former reservist, was appointed brigadier general to lead the search for missing and abducted Israelis by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

Israeli health authorities indicate that since Saturday, more than 600 Israelis have died and at least 2,156 more have been injured. In addition, Netanyahu has vowed to obliterate Gaza with “mighty vengeance” as revenge after the government formally declared war against the Hamas group.