Israeli woman's heartbreak: Hamas have taken 11 members of my family in Gaza
Shaked Haran said Hamas are holding 11 members of her family
GB News
Don't Miss
Most Read
Trending on GB News
An Israeli woman has told how 11 members of her family have been kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza as hostages.
Shaked Haran said Hamas are holding her mother, father, her sister and her husband and their two children, as well as her three year old niece, nephew, aunt and her daughter, and her uncle.
She told GB News: “Eight of them were together in the shelter of my parents’ house.
"On Saturday morning, my aunt and uncle were nearby at a house inside the shelter.
WATCH: Shared Haran on Hamas taking her family hostage
"We had some communication with them during Saturday morning and that was very intense bombing.
“I was in the shelter in my house and my brother was texting them. At the beginning they said they’re in the shelter and they're keeping safe and they're doing what they're being told to do.
“And then at some point, they said that they're in big trouble and that they love us. And that was the last message we heard from them.”
In a discussion with Mark Longhurst and Pip Tomson, she continued: “And then we had no idea what's going on. I’m sure you've seen the videos of the kibbutz, it was like a horror film.
“It was really, really crazy. We weren't inside the kibbutz fortunately. But we saw the messages and we have no idea where my family is.
“During Saturday, a friend of my father called his cell phone over 100 times. Eventually it was answered by someone in Arabic, who shouted in Arabic and then in Hebrew said , ‘hostage, hostage, Gaza’…and hung up.”
“So that was the only piece of information we’ve had for a while. After this, around Sunday, someone was sent to the house and they found my parents house but also almost all their neighbourhood completely burned down.
"The houses were shattered and they did not find any bodies.
“The assumption is that Hamas used the fire, started the fire in the house to get them out of the shelter so they would have no other option and then took them under gunpoint, abducted them to Gaza - including my three-year-old niece.”
It comes as Israel’s war with Hamas has left the Middle East on the “verge of the abyss” as Benjamin Netanyahu prepares troops for a “fateful hour”.
Growing instability in the region forced United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres to issue urgent appeals to both Israel and Hamas.
He said: “We are on the verge of the abyss in the Middle East.”
Guterres added: “To Hamas, the hostages must be released immediately without conditions."