The federal government assumes that German citizens were also abducted from Israel by the Islamist Hamas. According to the Foreign Ministry’s findings, these are people with German-Israeli citizenship.
In the attacks in Israel, the Islamist Hamas kidnapped at least 100 people in the Gaza Strip. This is what the Israeli government said. The federal government assumes that there are also German nationals among the kidnapping victims. The Foreign Office in Berlin said that, according to the Foreign Ministry’s findings, these were people who all had Israeli as well as German citizenship. The federal government’s crisis team met again on Sunday.
In order to protect those affected, further specific information about the individual cases and the number will not be disclosed at the moment, it said. The Foreign Office and the German embassy in Tel Aviv are in close contact with the Israeli authorities.
Woman recognizes her own daughter in video
According to information from Bavarian Radio There is said to be a woman with German citizenship among the hostages. Her mother is said to have received a video from Hamas in which she recognized her daughter. Her 22-year-old daughter, who lives in Israel, was attending a festival near the Gaza border when the attack began. The video showed Palestinians apparently kidnapping a half-naked, lifeless and injured woman in a pickup truck into the Gaza Strip. The woman in the video appears lifeless and is apparently injured.
The “Spiegel” reported, citing the mother’s information, that the daughter’s credit card had been used in the Gaza Strip. The parents were informed of this by the bank.
Mother kidnapped with children
According to media reports, other German citizens are missing in Israel. Israeli Yoni Asher told Channel 12 News that his German wife Doron, their two small children and their grandmother had disappeared. His wife and children, aged three and five, were visiting their grandmother in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip when Hamas launched its attack.
He recognized his family from a Hamas hostage video. They had been kidnapped: “I immediately recognized that it was her, without a doubt.” The children and the grandmother also have German citizenship.