Families of Hamas hostages in Gaza experience ‘absolute nightmare’

The relatives of the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip described today in London the “absolute nightmare” who have been living since October 7, pointing out how they have not received any information about a release agreement some of them.

Qatar, which has taken on a mediating role in trying to secure their release in exchange for a few days of “ceasefire”, said yesterday that there remained “very few” obstacles to a deal. “We have very little information … I wouldn’t believe it unless I saw it,” said Mr Thomas Huntwhose daughter Emily, age 9, is among the 240 people taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli authorities.

This is one of the three Israeli families, who wanted to share their difficult daily life, awaiting news from their own, during a press conference, organized at the Israeli embassy in London, focusing on the fate of the hostages, such as APE-MPE broadcasts. “We don’t know anything about this deal,” also assured Iris Haim, whose 28-year-old son was kidnapped in Kfar Azza, one of the kibbutzim near the Gaza Strip that were attacked by Hamas gunmen.

For Irish-born Thomas Hunt, those seven weeks of agony are any parent’s “worst nightmare”. “You don’t know where (your child) is or how much she might be suffering,” he described, underscoring the “terror” a little 9-year-old girl might be living inside Gaza’s network of tunnels, where the hostages are likely being held. “Emily has to think every day, ‘Where is my father?’ Why isn’t he here to save me?” This is the absolute nightmare,” he stressed.

Among the hostages are at least 35 minors, notably 18 children aged 10 or younger. “I’m not sleeping, I’m not eating … everything is frozen,” says Orit Meir, the mother of Amog, 21, who was abducted from the Tribe of Nova music festival, attended by more than 3,000 people on the day of the attack.