“The last message we received from her was on Saturday, at 7:11 a.m. She wrote “Don’t worry, soldiers are here”. In fact, they were not soldiers but barbarians. » This Thursday, in Tel Aviv, during a press conference held by the families of missing French nationals, Samuel Ben-David, very moved, shared the latest information he had from his sister, Céline.
For five days, this young 32-year-old Franco-Israeli woman, who lived her entire childhood in Lyon and who is the mother of a six-month-old baby, has not given any sign of life. She was going with a couple of friends to the Tribe of Nova festival, in the south of Israel, near the border with the Gaza Strip. “They never made it to that party,” his brother said. The three friends had left that morning to enjoy the concerts during the day and had planned to return in the afternoon.
Ido Nagar, her husband, went there the day after the Hamas attack and did not find her body. Nor that of his friends. He simply discovered their vehicle, riddled with bullets, “one or two kilometers” from the festival site. But no sign of his companion. According to Samuel, “when they heard the alarms and the rocket fire, they fled to a shelter and came across terrorists.”
During the week, the relatives of this young woman received testimony from a man who had taken refuge with her and who told them that at that time, she was the only one who was not injured. “Since then, no news from anyone,” Samuel said in a whisper.
“I hope my wife was taken hostage”
“She hasn’t been able to take her pill for five days,” recalled Ido Nagar. It’s also been five days since she stopped breastfeeding her six-month-old daughter Eli. » Earlier in the week, he said on Facebook that he had received “countless messages of support” since his testimony on an Israeli news channel. Many people also donated breast milk to her. No longer needing milk, he then asked to continue “echoing” his name “all over the world” to demand to hear from him. “Help me bring Céline home,” he wrote in his post.
This Thursday, during the press conference, he added: “We still have hope. And I can’t believe that’s what I want but I hope my wife was taken hostage and she’s alive so she can come home. » Then, to beg: “Please take my wife back to her daughter!” Eli needs his mother. »
Emmanuel Macron must act “as if it had happened in Paris”
“Deprived” and “distraught”, in the words of Yaëlle Krief, the head of Céline’s research committee, her relatives are now hoping for an intervention from the President of the French Republic. “As long as we don’t get a call to tell us that we have found her body or, images from Hamas, to find out if she is being held hostage, we are in an unbearable wait,” she continued. . According to her, international bodies have the power to move things forward and “this is what these families are waiting for”.
“All the missing [dix-sept selon les dernières informations jeudi soir, dont quatre enfants] are French, exclaimed Ido Nagar. France has a duty to do something. » And added: “Emmanuel Macron should react today as if Hamas had acted in Paris, as if this terrorist group had kidnapped French children in Paris, as if it had happened in Paris. » Samuel Ben-David concluded: “The President of the Republic must do everything to get these civilians out of the hands of Hamas. We all need to get our families back. »