Young children and elderly grandparents were among more than 100 hostages held as human shields by Hamas last night.
Families have described the horror of only discovering their loved ones had been abducted by watching chilling videos posted on social media by their gleeful captors.
Footage showed crying children and their helpless mothers being dragged from their homes and loaded into vehicles by heavily armed men before being driven to Gaza. Two Britons are suspected to be among those arrested after the terror group launched its bloody surprise attack.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken even suggested that an elderly Holocaust survivor was among those dragged across the border into Hamas territories.
Gunmen were reported to be going door-to-door to round up entire families as they took shelter from a barrage of rockets fired into the settlements from Gaza.
Noa Argamani, 25, was kidnapped with her boyfriend Avi Nathan during an attack on a music festival near the Gaza border.
The sickening videos showed traumatized Israeli soldiers, overwhelmed by the surprise attack, being abused and beaten as they were paraded by their captors.
The footage also showed a ten-year-old Israeli boy being dragged towards an opening in the border fence by armed terrorists.
The young man – named Erez Calderon – was reportedly hiding in his home in Nir Oz in southern Israel when Hamas broke in and kidnapped him at gunpoint. Erez’s sister Gaya Kalderon, 21, who lives in Tel Aviv, told Sky News: “I was terrified to wake up on Saturday morning and get messages like ‘terrorists are in my bedroom’ and my sister 16 -year-old wrote (for) me: ‘I am very afraid’.
Meanwhile, Yoni Asher described how he was cut off from his wife Doron after she called to say terrorists had entered the house. She was visiting her mother in Nir Oz near the border with their two daughters aged two and four when Hamas attacked.
Hundreds of young people are also missing after terrorists attacked an outdoor music festival being held in the desert.
On Saturday, shocking footage showed bystander Noa Argamani, 25, crying for her life as she was kidnapped on a motorbike. Yesterday, her father broke down in tears as he admitted the family was powerless to do anything but pray for her safe return.
An unverified video shows two children crying on the floor of their home as they ask a man behind the camera if their older sister is dead. The young boy and girl break down as they are told they are ‘in heaven’ as their worried parents try to protect them from the intense fire outside the room.
As their families pray for their safe return, the outlook for the stricken hostages is bleak. Israeli military officials admitted last night that they are not planning a rescue operation similar to the famous Entebbe raid in 1976.
Instead, they are focusing on unleashing furious retribution against Hamas bases in Gaza – meaning the captives could now be at the epicenter of one of the most devastating attacks launched on the territory in years.
Dragged from the music festival on a motorcycle
A student was filmed screaming ‘don’t kill me’ as she was dragged away on a motorbike by Hamas thugs.
Noa Argamani, 25, was kidnapped with her boyfriend Avi Nathan during an attack on a music festival near the Gaza border. Her tearful father, Yaacov Argamani, said yesterday: “I tried to contact her from the second we heard the rocket sirens.
“While she was on the phone, her roommate contacted us and said he had a video of her on a motorcycle and she was kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
Noa Argamani, 25, was filmed shouting ‘don’t kill me’ as she was dragged away on a motorbike by Hamas thugs.
“She was so scared, so scared. I have always protected him and at this moment I could not.’
Celebrations near Kibbutz Re’im descended into chaos after Palestinian terrorists began firing rockets into the crowd on Saturday.
Footage of a woman believed to be Ms Argamani emerged yesterday, apparently showing her drinking from a bottle of water in an undisclosed location.
Abducted with their babies and grandparents
A woman was seen being carried away with her children as horrified onlookers shouted: “She’s got a baby”.
The mother, later identified as Shiri, was taken with her husband, Yarden, sons Ariel, three, and nine-month-old Kfir, as well as her elderly parents Yossi and Margit. They are believed to have been abducted from Shir’s home in Nir Oz on the Gaza border.
The vulnerable grandmother was told she was ‘sick’ and needed her medication.
The mother is missing – but the children have been found
A mother is still missing after her two kidnapped children were found at the border.
Adi Vital-Kaplon, 33, was abducted by militants from her home near Gaza on Saturday with four-year-old Negev and six-month-old Esheli. But the children were left at the border the night they were found by family friend Avital, 38. Their grandfather Yondav Kaplon said: ‘As far as we understand (Avital) was kidnapped, or escaped or released, but she was the last one to recognize them. night in the fence and brought them back to Israel.’
He said the children were being taken to hospital ‘because Negev was slightly injured with shrapnel in his leg which was not treated and Eshel did not pass a medical examination’.
Adi Vital-Kaplon, 33, was abducted by militants from her home near Gaza on Saturday with four-year-old Negev and six-month-old Esheli.
The gunmen walked in… and then there was silence
Yoni Asher said he received a call from his panic-stricken wife saying terrorists had entered the house.
Doron Asher Katz, 34, was visiting her mother in Nir Oz near the Gaza border with their two daughters, aged two and four, when Hamas attacked.
After losing contact with him, Asher saw a video on social media of them being loaded onto a cart by militants. “I definitely identified my wife, my two daughters and my mother-in-law in some kind of cart and Hamas terrorists around them,” he said.
He was able to track his wife’s cell phone and discovered that she was in Khan Yunis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip.
Doron Asher Katz, 34, was visiting her mother in Nir Oz near the Gaza border with their two daughters, aged two and four, when Hamas attacked
He said: “My two little girls, they’re just babies, they’re not even five and three years old.
“I don’t know in what conditions they are prisoners. I don’t know what happened to them.’
Asher has appealed directly to Hamas not to hurt his family and has even offered to barter himself for their safe return.
A ten-year-old boy was kidnapped at gunpoint from his home
Disturbing footage shows a ten-year-old boy being dragged towards an opening in the border fence by terrorists.
Erez Calderon, who was abducted from his home in Nir Oz in southern Israel by Hamas, looks terrified as he is led through the streets by heavily armed men.
Erez Calderon, who was abducted from his home in Nir Oz in southern Israel by Hamas, looks terrified as he is led through the streets by heavily armed men.
His father Ofer and sister Sahar, 16, were also kidnapped.
“Yesterday at 08:30, messages were sent from them that the terrorists are outside their house… and they are hiding.
“Since then their voice has not been heard,” said a message from a relative, which circulated on the Internet.
Erez’s sister Gaya Kalderon, 21, who lives in Tel Aviv, told Sky News: “Everything I have in my life – my family – is missing. I am horrified by the photos and can’t believe my eyes. It feels like a horror movie that would never be made. But it was done.’
Grandmothers who have disappeared without a trace
Ditza Heiman, 84, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the border, and taken to Gaza.
When her family tried to call her phone, a Hamas fighter answered and they haven’t heard anything since.
Another grandmother, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, was driven into a golf cart at gunpoint by a group of terrorists.
Ditza Heiman, 84, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the border, and taken to Gaza.
Yaffa Adar, 85, driven into a golf cart at gunpoint by a group of terrorists
Her granddaughter Adva said the family lost contact with her late Saturday night after receiving a text from her saying she could hear fighting in the street. They later discovered that her house had burned down.
“We saw the videos showing men with guns taking him to Gaza. “I can’t even begin to imagine how scared she is, she is 85 years old, she is sick and she has no medicine with her,” said Adva.
“She is putting on a brave face, taking charge of the situation and showing her captors a glimpse of her unbreakable determination.”
She said she felt the authorities had abandoned her, adding: “No one can tell us anything. We found out she was kidnapped from videos we found on Facebook.’
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