Households in the US and Israel continued to wish on Wednesday for his or her family members who have been lacking within the wake of the brutal Hamas assault that killed greater than 1,000 individuals in Israel over the weekend, together with 22 Americans, in line with U.S. officers.
The slain People included an “idealist” who saved her son from assailants’ bullets and a nurse from California who had moved to Israel to look after her mother and father.
White Home officers mentioned on Wednesday that no less than 17 People remained unaccounted for in Israel, though it was not clear what number of have been being held hostage by Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza and carried out the assaults. “We’ve got to metal ourselves for the very distinct risk that these numbers will preserve rising,” mentioned John Kirby, a spokesman for the Nationwide Safety Council.
President Biden pledged on Tuesday to place all efforts into discovering and rescuing the lacking. “I’ve no larger precedence than the security of People being held hostage all over the world,” he mentioned in a speech from the White Home. Officers mentioned they have been in contact with the households of the lacking and protecting them up to date.
U.S. officers had not shared identities of the lacking People, however primarily based on media and household studies, they appeared to incorporate twin residents who have been serving within the Israeli Military, in addition to a mom and daughter from the Chicago space who have been visiting household in Israel and a 23-year-old attending a music pageant that got here underneath assault from Hamas.
Here’s what we learn about them.
Lacking People
Adrienne Neta
Nahar Neta fought again tears at a information convention in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, as he described being on the telephone making an attempt to calm his 66-year-old mom, Adrienne. She was born and raised in California and lived in a kibbutz close to the border with Gaza.
His siblings have been on the telephone along with her as attackers broke into her residence in Be’eri, he mentioned. They heard screaming, he added, and haven’t heard from her since.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin
Rachel Goldberg mentioned she awakened on Saturday in Jerusalem to the sound of sirens warning of incoming rocket fireplace. Her 23-year-old son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was at a music pageant close to Gaza’s border. When she turned her telephone on 10 minutes later, she noticed two consecutive textual content messages from him that learn “I really like you” and “I’m sorry.”
Mrs. Goldberg — who moved along with her household from California to Jerusalem in 2008 — has not heard from her son since. She mentioned on Tuesday that the one factor the police might inform her was that his final identified cellphone sign was close to the border with Gaza.
Judith Raanan and Natalie Raanan
The mom and daughter from Evanston, In poor health., a suburb of Chicago, have been visiting family members in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz lower than a mile from the Israel-Gaza border. Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein, the manager director of Chabad of Evanston, mentioned they’d not been heard from since Saturday.
Natalie had not too long ago graduated from highschool, Rabbi Klein mentioned. He described her mom as somebody who might converse with a variety of individuals, from older members of the congregation to youthful college students at Northwestern College.
“This was a girl that was stuffed with hope,” Rabbi Klein mentioned. “And I do know she has a resilience to beat her tormentors.”
Sagi Dekel-Chen
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, a resident of the kibbutz Nir Oz, mentioned he believed his 35-year-old son, Sagi, was being held captive “an arm-lengths away in Gaza, evidently, however couldn’t be farther from me and our household proper now.” He mentioned Sagi, who had tried to repel the assault on Saturday, was the daddy of two daughters and that his spouse was pregnant with their third.
Mr. Dekel-Chen, who grew up in Connecticut, mentioned that the kibbutz was “destroyed in a barbaric, inhumane assault through which dozens of my pals, my neighbors, have been killed.”
Itay Chen
Ruby Chen mentioned his 19-year-old son, Itay, who was serving within the Israeli Military, had been lacking since Saturday. He pleaded with President Biden and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to “do what they will to make this finish for us as quickly as attainable.”
Among the many Slain
Deborah Martias
In her remaining moments, Deborah Martias, who was born in Missouri and whose father is a longtime professor at Brandeis College in Massachusetts, coated her teenage son along with her personal physique to guard him, her family members instructed a number of information shops on Tuesday.
Within the moments earlier than she and her husband, Shlomi Martias, have been killed by the assailants who burst into the household’s residence, Ms. Martias was on the telephone along with her father, Ilan Troen, he recounted in a televised interview. Mr. Troen mentioned that she heard glass breaking, gunshots and folks talking in Arabic.
Her 16-year-old son, Rotem, was shot within the abdomen however survived, hiding till he could possibly be rescued.
Mr. Troen described his daughter and son-in-law as “idealists.” They lived at Kibbutz Holit, a small neighborhood simply over a mile from Gaza, and had despatched their youngsters to a college that taught each Hebrew and Arabic, he mentioned, within the hope that higher understanding between Jews and Arabs might “change the course of historical past right here.”
Hayim Katsman
A peace activist, Mr. Katsman was initially believed to have been taken hostage on Saturday however was later discovered killed in his residence on Kibbutz Holit. He had studied conservative developments and radicalism throughout the Zionist spiritual neighborhood, performed bass guitar and labored as a D.J. taking part in Arabic music.
He did gardening and landscaping on the kibbutz, mentioned his mom, Hannah Wacholder Katsman, who described him as “very industrious and impartial” in a textual content message. She mentioned he was born in Israel however had acquired twin citizenship in the US.
Mr. Katsman not too long ago accomplished his doctorate on the College of Washington in Seattle, the place he served as co-coordinator of a Israel-Palestine analysis group. His doctorate was titled, “Spiritual nationalism in Israel/Palestine.” It’s uncommon for Israelis to discuss with the area in that method, quite than merely “Israel” or “Israel and the occupied territories.”
Daniel Ben-Senior
A nurse whom her household described as an “angel,” Daniel Ben-Senior, 34, was born in California however moved to Israel to assist maintain her mother and father.
She was attending the music pageant that was attacked by Hamas, and was initially thought of among the many lacking. Israeli authorities instructed her household on Wednesday that she had been shot, mentioned her cousin, Ran Ben-Senior, who lives in New York.
“It’s a nightmare,” he mentioned.
Reporting was contributed by Peter Baker, Colbi Edmonds, Nadav Gavrielov and Hiba Yazbek. Kirsten Noyes contributed analysis.
