Ayala Yahalomi Luzon recounted the kidnapping of her brother and 12-year-old nephew by Hamas forces. Her sister-in-law and her two nieces managed to escape.
A French child aged just 12 is missing after Hamas forces attacked his family, according to his aunt Ayala Yahalomi Luzon. According to the latter, Hamas men managed to go to the family home of her brother Ohad in Nir Oz, very close to the Gaza Strip.
“Saturday morning, the day of the attack, my brother was defending his home outside the shelter because there was a problem with the door,” said Ayal Yahalomi Luzon.
“There was shooting outside and he was probably injured. Afterwards, they managed to enter the shelter and took away my sister-in-law Batsheva and the three children Eitan, 12 years old, Yahel 10 years old, and Leyel 1 year and a half”, she confided on i24 News.
For her part, Esther, the grandmother of young Eitan, told BFMTV of the same scene: “At 9 a.m. they heard shots at their houses, they were in a shelter (…) My son was holding back the door of the armored room so that the terrorists do not attack the children.”
“They played dead”
Ayal Yahalomi Luzon continued: “They took them and put them on two motorcycles, one with Batsheva and the two girls and the other word with Eitan.”
“They just drove up to 200 or 300 hundred meters from the barrier, and two tanks arrived. The first motorcycle stopped, but not Eitan’s, which crossed the barrier. Betcheva managed to escape with the two girls. They ran through the fields to Nir Oz,” she added. “They played dead. There were a lot of terrorists at the barrier.”
“Two terrorists came and said ‘are you coming with us’. She replied ‘no’ […] They ran and came across a base with Israeli soldiers,” said Ayal Yahalomi Luzon. “Ohad was left injured in the house and when our forces entered, Ohad was no longer there. I don’t know where Eitan and Ohad are. It’s a shame, a shame.”
“Eitan was put on another scooter heading to Gaza,” his grandmother added, “we are extremely worried.”
Two French people killed and 14 “worrying” disappearances
Since Saturday, two French nationals have died and 14 are still missing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.
“At this time, we deplore the death of two compatriots and have no news of fourteen others whose situation is considered very worrying,” said the ministry.
The Quai d’Orsay specifies that “this number is still subject to change”.
“The information we have allows us to consider the kidnapping of some of them, including a minor child of twelve years old, as very likely,” he added.
The ministry also renewed its call “to French people currently in Israel to respect the extreme vigilance instructions issued by our teams at the French embassy in Tel Aviv, the consulate general in Jerusalem and by the authorities Israelis.