Amid the devastating war in Israel, relatives of hostages have had to learn of their kidnappings through frantic, whispered phone calls, rushed text messages and videos posted to social media. The stakes rose Monday as Hamas threatened to start executing hostages if Israel bombs civilian targets in Gaza.
The exact number of people abducted remains unclear. Militants have claimed more than 100, but an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said Wednesday that 60 people had been abducted.
These accounts of kidnappings are based on interviews with the families and, in many cases, videos showing apparent abductions. In some instances, groups of relatives disappeared at the same time, and family members are left to wonder whether they are alive and missing, among the hostages or dead.
Here are some of their stories:
Omer Shem Tov, 20
Omer Shem Tov had dinner with his family last Friday and then left to attend the Supernova music festival, wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and long black shorts that bore a unique pattern on the sides.
On Saturday night, after Hamas terrorists stormed the festival, killing 260 people and abducting many others, Shem Tov’s family said they saw a video online showing the 20-year-old in his distinctive outfit, lying on his side with his hands bound behind his back.
“This is the most horrific thing we have ever seen,” Omer’s brother, Amit, told NBC News. “My mother could not handle it.”
Amit said Israeli officials have told the family that Omer had been taken hostage in Gaza but that he was alive.
“That’s the most important thing,” he said. “I’m still hopeful.”
Ron Sherman, 19
Israeli soldier Ron Sherman was shaken awake Saturday morning by the deafening sound of missiles, bombs and gunfire all around him, his mother, Maayan Sherman, said.
Just one year into his mandatory service, Sherman helped to deliver goods to the people of Gaza and was unarmed when his base was attacked, his mother said. He scrambled to find safety and texted his mother frightened and unsure what to do.
“He said it sounded different from other times they’ve had these attacks,” she said. “I didn’t believe him — I thought it was a dream.”
Her son, who has Argentine citizenship, called again moments later and said he heard people speaking Arabic outside the room where he was hiding.
“I love you all. I’m done — they’re coming” Maayan Sherman remembers her son saying.
Four hours later, she received photos and video taken by Hamas showing her son being taken hostage.
“He looked very healthy and alive,” she said. “We were so terrified, but we were relieved because he was alive and he had a chance.”
Karina Ariev, 19
Sasha Ariev, 24, knew “something wasn’t right” when she got a call on her cellphone at 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
It was her little sister, 19-year-old Israel Defense Forces soldier Karina Ariev, who was hunkered down in a bomb shelter near the Nahal Oz kibbutz in southern Israel. Hamas gunmen had apparently raided the IDF base where she worked. Karina Ariev said she feared for her life.
Sasha Ariev later saw a video clip showing her sister apparently being kidnapped. “We don’t know if she is alive,” she said in an interview Wednesday. Sasha Ariev said that an Israeli military officer came to her family’s home Sunday night and declared her sister was being held by Hamas.
“We want the Red Cross to go into Gaza and confirm whether there are hostages, whether they’re alive, whether they need urgent medical attention,” she said.
Sasha Ariev said she feels “betrayed” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which was evidently caught off guard by the unprecedented Hamas assault. “In a democracy, we choose our leaders to secure us and to lead us, but they didn’t do that well, and this is why we’re in this situation,” she said.
Netanyahu has vowed to strike back against Hamas fighters in Gaza, and Sasha Ariev said her “heart goes out to Palestinian civilians” who will be caught in the conflict. “Hamas is a terror organization,” she said. “We know there are Palestinian civilians who are scared of Hamas, especially in Gaza. They are innocent people and they’ve done nothing wrong.”
Sasha Ariev said she is praying for her sister’s safe return, but she knows that nothing will ever be the same.
“After we saw the video of Karina,” she said, “we felt that Hamas took part of her soul that may never come back. We pray she will come home safe and sound, but she won’t be the same person ever again. She will be traumatized. She will be scarred.”
Bar Kuperstein, 21
Bar Kuperstein’s mother received a text from her son around 6:30 a.m. Saturday saying he planned to pack up and leave the Supernova music festival in the Israeli desert because it was under attack, his uncle Itzhak Tabatchnik said.
After spending hours scrolling through social media trying to determine his location, the family found a video around 12:30 p.m. appearing to show Kuperstein being held captive by militants, Tabatchnik said.
The family later learned from other people at the festival that Kuperstein waited to make sure other attendees and staff members got to safety first, his uncle said. An estimated 260 people were killed at the desert festival in the Negev region.
“He is a hero,” Tabatchnik said. “Bar and the entire population at the festival has nothing to do with military conflict and the world should know about what happened to them. They were totally innocent.”
The eldest of five children, Bar Kuperstein took it upon himself to look after his family when his dad was in a car accident two years ago and could no longer walk, his uncle said.
“He functioned not only as a big brother, but, in a certain way, he took responsibility of his entire family because of his father’s disability,” he added.
It was that instinct to protect that likely inspired Kuperstein to stay behind at the music festival, where he was working Saturday morning, Tabatchnik said.
“He has a good heart and a good character,” Tabatchnik said.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23
Born in California and raised in Chicago, Hersh Goldberg-Polin left his mother’s home in Jerusalem Friday night saying that he planned to camp out with his best friend and would be home later in the weekend.
On Saturday morning, around 8:11 a.m, Rachel Goldberg received texts from her son that she will never forget: “I love you” and “I’m sorry.”
She has not heard from Goldberg-Polin since.
An avid traveler who had been saving up for a big trip in December, Goldberg-Polin was among a group of revelers at a music festival who hid in a bomb shelter when Hamas attacked.
Goldberg and other relatives have cobbled together information about what happened that morning through eyewitnesses’ accounts and social media. She believes her son survived being shot by tying a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding before being dragged off by Hamas as a hostage.
Several friends credited him with saving their lives, she said.
“He is a smiley, fun-loving guy and people of all ages gravitate towards him,” Goldberg said.
Celine Ben David Nagar, 32
Ido Nagar, 33, said his wife, Celine Ben David Nagar, was driving south from their home in Holon, south of Tel Aviv, with two friends on Saturday when she called him and said she was hearing rocket-warning sirens. She said they would try to turn back to get to a shelter. But then she said turning back may have been a mistake — that “soldiers are coming.”
Later, her car was found with its windows smashed and two bullet holes in the door, he said. A small amount of blood was discovered outside the vehicle. “I’m assuming that they were taken by Hamas,” Ido Nagar said.
Since Saturday, Ido Nagar said his family has been flooded with support from neighbors, with many dropping off enough milk for the couple’s 6-month-old daughter, Ellie, to fill a whole fridge.
Ido Nagar is left with longing. “She’s the love of my life. She was perfect,” he said. “We had such a perfect… we have such a perfect marriage.”
Yaffa Adar, 85
Relatives of Yaffa Adar, a grandmother abducted from her kibbutz near Gaza on a golf cart, are pleading for her return, saying she’s sick and in need of medicine.
Her granddaughter, Adva Adar told Sky News that Yaffa is gentle and funny and loves to cuddle. She is the backbone of a large family in Israel, she added.
“She liked to enjoy her life and she liked to help us enjoy our life,” she said.
Adva saw a now-viral video showing Hamas militants kidnapping her grandmother and driving away in a golf cart. The Associated Press reported she was captured from the Kfar Azza community and enroute to the Gaza strip.
“I don’t know if there is any word that can describe it — we were in shock,” Adva said. “It hurts in every inch of our bodies.”