Pawns of merciless terrorists: The horrifying stories of just some of the 100 hostages, which included a mother with babies in her arms stolen by murderous Hamas invaders
Gunmen were reported to have been going door to door to round up families
By Inderdeep Bains and Natalie Lisbona
Daily Mail
Oct 8, 2023
Noa Argamani, 25, was kidnapped with her boyfriend Avi Nathan during an attack on a music festival close to the Gaza border
Young children and elderly grandparents were among the more than 100 hostages being held as human shields by Hamas last night.
Families have described the horror of only discovering their loved ones had been snatched by viewing chilling videos posted on social media by their gloating kidnappers.
Footage showed sobbing children and their helpless mothers being dragged from their homes and loaded into vehicles by heavily armed men before being taken to Gaza. It is feared two Britons could be among those being held after the terrorist group launched its bloody multi-pronged surprise attack.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken even suggesting an elderly Holocaust survivor was among those dragged across the border into Hamas territories.
Gunmen were reported to have been going door to door to round up whole families as they sheltered from a barrage of rockets fired into settlements from Gaza.
Sickening videos showed traumatised Israeli soldiers, overwhelmed by the surprise attack, being abused and beaten as they were paraded by their captors.
Footage also showed a ten-year-old Israeli boy being dragged towards an opening in the border's fence by armed terrorists.
The youngster – named as Erez Kalderon – was said to be hiding in his house in Nir Oz in the south of Israel when Hamas broke in and snatched 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 receive messages like 'the terrorists are in my bedroom' and my 16-year-old sister writing [to] me: 'I'm so scared'.'
Meanwhile, Yoni Asher described how he was cut off from his wife Doron after she called to say terrorists had entered the home. 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 stormed an outdoor music festival being held in the desert.
On Saturday, shocking footage showed attendee Noa Argamani, 25, crying for her life as she was snatched away on a motorcycle. Yesterday, her father broke down in tears as he admitted the family were powerless to do anything but pray for her safe return.
Unverified video shows two children sobbing 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 she is 'in heaven' as their distraught parents struggle to protect them from heavy fire outside the room.
While their families pray for their safe return, prospects for the stricken hostages are bleak. Israeli military officials admitted last night that they are not planning a rescue operation akin to the famous Entebbe raid in 1976.
Instead, they are focusing on unleashing a furious retribution against Hamas bases in Gaza – meaning the captives could now be at the epicentre of one of the most devastating strikes unleashed on the territory in years.
Dragged from music festival on a motorbike
A student was filmed screaming 'don't kill me' as she was dragged away on a motorcyle by Hamas thugs.
Noa Argamani, 25, was kidnapped with her boyfriend Avi Nathan during an attack on a music festival close to the Gaza border. Her tearful father Yaacov Argamani said yesterday: 'I tried to contact her from the second we heard the rocket sirens.
'While on the phone, her roommate contacted us and said there was a video of her on a motorcycle and she was kidnapped and taken to Gaza.
Noa Argamani, 25, was filmed screaming 'don't kill me' as she was dragged away on a motorcyle by Hamas thugs
'She was so scared, so frightened. I always protected her, and at this very moment I couldn't.'
The festivites near Kibbutz Re'im turned 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 sipping from a bottle of water at an undisclosed location.
Kidnapped with babies and their grandparents
A woman was seen being kidnapped with her children as horrified onlookers screamed: 'She has a baby.'
The mother was later identified as Shiri who was taken with her husband, Yarden, sons Ariel, three, and nine-month-old Kfir, as well as her elderly parents Yossi and Margit. They were believed to have been snatched from Shiri's home in Nir Oz on the border with Gaza.
The vulnerable grandmother was said to be 'sick' and in need of her medication.
Mum missing - but children are found
A mother is still missing after her two children that she was kidnapped with were found at the border.
Adi Vital-Kaplon, 33, was snatched by militants from her home near Gaza on Saturday with four-year-old Negev and Eshel, six months. But the children were left at the border at night where they were found by a family friend Avital, 38. Their grandfather Yondav Kaplon said: 'From what we understand [Avital] was kidnapped, or escaped or was released, but she recognised them last night on the fence and took them back to Israel.'
He said the children were being taken to hospital 'because Negev is slightly wounded with shrapnel in his leg that was not treated, and Eshel did not pass a medical examination'.
Adi Vital-Kaplon, 33, was snatched by militants from her home near Gaza on Saturday with four-year-old Negev and Eshel, six months
Gunmen stormed in... and then silence
Yoni Asher said he received a call from his panic-stricken wife saying terrorists had stormed into 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 her, Mr Asher saw a video of them on social media being loaded into a cart by militants. 'I surely identified my wife, my two daughters and my mother-in-law on some kind of a cart, and terrorists of Hamas all around them,' he said.
He was able to track his wife's mobile phone and discovered that it 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 little two girls, they are only babies, they are not even five years old and three years old.
'I don't know in what terms they are captive. I don't know what happened to them.'
Mr Asher has appealed directly to Hamas to not hurt his family and has even offered to exchange himself for their safe return.
Boy of ten snatched at gunpoint from his home
Disturbing footage shows a boy of ten being dragged towards an opening in the border's fence by terrorists.
Erez Kalderon, who was snatched from his home in Nir Oz in the south of Israel by Hamas, looks terrified as he is led through the streets by the heavily armed men.
Erez Kalderon, who was snatched from his home in Nir Oz in the south of Israel by Hamas, looks terrified as he is led through the streets by the heavily armed men
His father Offer and sister Sahar, 16, were also abducted.
'Yesterday at 8.30am messages were sent from them that the terrorists are outside their house... and they are hiding.
'Since then their voices have not been heard,' a message from a relative, which was circulated online, said.
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'm terrified from the photographs and can't believe my eyes. It feels like a horror movie that would never come true. But it did.'
The grandmothers who have vanished without a trace
Ditza Heiman, 84, was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, close to the border, and taken into Gaza.
When her family tried calling her phone a Hamas fighter answered and they have heard nothing since.
Another grandmother, 85-year-old Yaffa Adar, was bundled into a golf buggy at gunpoint by a group of terrorists.
Ditza Heiman, 84, was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, close to the border, and taken into Gaza
Yaffa Adar, 85, was bundled into a golf buggy at gunpoint by a group of terrorists
Her granddaughter Adva said the family lost contact with her late on Saturday evening after receiving a message from her saying she could hear fighting in the streets. They later found her home had been burned down.
'We saw the videos showing men with guns taking her to Gaza. I cannot even start to imagine how scared she is, she's 85, she's sick and she has no medicine with her,' Adva said.
'She's putting on a brave face, taking charge of the situation and showing her captors a glimpse of her unbreakable resolve.'
She said she felt the authorities had abandoned them, adding: 'No one can tell us anything. We found out she was kidnapped from the videos we found on Facebook.'
Survivors of the Israeli festival massacre that left 260 revellers dead have described running for their lives as Hamas terrorists went 'tree by tree' targeting anyone who was trying to flee.
On Saturday Israel suffered its deadliest attack in decades as the Palestinian militant group rampaged through the country's towns killing at least 700 people, with dozens being abducted.
A senior Hamas official said last night that the militant group is holding more than 100 people captive following its attack on Israel. The attack has sparked fierce fighting killing and wounding thousands of people on both sides.
One of the most lethal Hamas attacks took place as dawn broke on Saturday morning at the Supernova Festival near Kibbutz Re'im, close to the Gaza Strip, where music lovers, mostly in their 20s and 30s, had gathered for a peaceful festival in the desert.
Music at what had been described as a 'beautiful party' with 'good vibes' played all night until round 6.30am when a siren began blaring warning of rockets. Hamas terrorists then cut the electricity as rockets flew overhead and jeeps filled with gunmen ran onto the site.
Terrifying footage shows the partygoers fleeing on foot over the sand to their cars, screaming as shots are fired. Some are seen holding hands as they run away while others shout 'go, go, go'. Police are seen helping the crowd evacuate.
Survivors of the attack said they were forced to hide under bushes as they watched victims get killed one by one, until they heard the sound of people rescuers speaking in Hebrew. According to Israeli media, it took five hours for military to arrive.
Shocking footage from the aftermath of the attack shows festival tents empty, with abandoned cars of those trying to escape strewn on the side of the road.
Confirming the horror, the Israeli rescue service Zaka said it had recovered at least 260 bodies that will be removed from the festival site.
Meanwhile distraught relatives, hoping to find their loved ones, were asked to bring personal items such as combs and toothbrushes belonging to their missing children to help emergency services begin the grim task of matching DNA to bodies found.
Yaniv, an emergency worker who was amongst those medics who raced to the scene told public broadcaster Kan News he saw 'at least 200 bodies of Israelis in the area'.
He said: 'There are at least 200 bodies of Israelis in the area I was in. It was a massacre.
'I've never seen anything like it in my life. It was a planned ambush. As people came out of the emergency exits, squads of terrorists were waiting for them there and just started picking them off.
'There were 3,000 people at the event, so they probably knew it. They had intelligence information.’
Amongst those hiding was Gili Yoskovich, who was forced to shelter beneath a fruit tree in the middle of a field shaking for three hours as bullets flew past her. She hid until she heard people speaking Hebrew and was rescued by Israeli soldiers.
The mother described how young people - whose night celebrating the end of the Sukkot religious holiday had turned to terror - were dying all around her as Hamas militants carried out their killing spree.
'They were going tree by tree and shooting everywhere from two sides.
'I saw people were dying all around. They were all over the place with their automatic weapons. I was very quiet. I didn't cry, I didn't do anything,' she told the BBC.
'I was... breathing, saying: 'OK, I'm going to die. It's OK, just breathe, just close your eyes'.'
Michael Atias, said gunmen were systematically attacking festival-goers as they desperately fled the area.
He told the Times: 'It started off as a beautiful party, with great vibes and energy. But at around 6.30am, the rocket fire started. Many people panicked and started running to their cars.
'We heard gunshots and later realized that the gunmen were targeting those who were trying to flee the party — they were waiting for them.'
One partygoer named Ortel said the rockets fired were quickly followed by gunshots being fired from jeeps full of gunmen.
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza, in the early hours of Monday
Fire and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City
She told the BBC: 'They turned off the electricity and suddenly out of nowhere they [militants] come inside with gunfire, opening fire in every direction.
'Fifty terrorists arrived in vans, dressed in military uniforms. They fired bursts, and we reached a point where everyone stopped their vehicles and started running.'
As people tried to run through the sand or drive off in their cars, more shots were fired.
Ortel said she hid in a bush where she watched 'masses of wounded people thrown around'.
Meanwhile festival-goer Adam Barel told Haaretz that while they had been aware of the chance of rocket fire, the gunshots came as a shock.
He told the Israeli newspaper that he was among those fleeing to their cars but shots were being fired so he decided it was better to run. 'People were hit. We hid. Everyone ran somewhere else,' he said.
A number of people who attended the peaceful festival in the desert, that coincided with the Jewish festival of Sukkot, are missing - including Noa Argamani and her boyfriend Avi Nathan.
Smoke and flames billow after Israeli forces struck a high-rise tower in Gaza City, October 7
Fire and smoke rise in Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike on Sunday October 8
Distraught relatives of a missing Israeli are overcome with emotion during a press conference
A man wipes his eyes as he waits for news about a relative missing following the surprise attack by Hamas
Last night it was also reported that Doron Asher, 34, was taken hostage by Hamas gunmen and held captive in Gaza
Heartbreaking footage showed the 25-year-old student screaming 'Don't kill me! N, no, no' as she was forced onto the back of a motorcycle just metres away from her helpless boyfriend who was held at gunpoint. Both remain missing.
Widely shared on social media, the footage of Noa's kidnapping is almost too distressing to bear. 'Imagine what it is like for her family,' said her university roommate, Amir Moadi.
They found out she had been snatched only when they chanced upon the footage online.
Earlier today her inconsolable father, Yaacov Argamani, sobbed as he voiced his fears for her safety, saying: 'she was so petrified, so scared'.
Speaking through tears, he said: 'I was hoping this is a mistake that it's not true. And then in the hospital a guy asked me if I wanted to see. I said yes and then I know for sure it is Noa... she was so petrified, so scared.'
He then begins to uncontrollably sob. 'I was always so protective but in this moment I couldn't protect her,' he told Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 News.
'All my life since she was born I have tried to protect and hug her, support and love her. I wish I could at this difficult moment at least encourage her or say something to her.'
Noa's aunt, Yaffe Ohad, said they were 'crazy with worry'. She said: 'We know that Noa was kidnapped, probably in the hours of the beginning of the fighting.'
Avi's brother Moshe also first heard of his brother going missing after seeing the video on social media.
He told Channel 12: 'We knew that my brother Avinathan and his girlfriend Noa Argamani were at the party and we started to worry.
'Their phones were unavailable and after a few hours an emergency team contacted us and said they had seen a video of them being kidnapped in the direction of the Strip.'
Moshe said he found the video on social media seeing his brother, who he described as 'a big guy', being held by five people who were he presumed were taking 'him towards the strip'.
The fears of Noa and Avi's relatives are mirrored in the faces of countless other families who have no idea where their loved ones are alive or whether they are safe after being taken hostage by terrorists.
One of those captured at the festival was 30-year-old German tattoo artist Shani Louk.
Her lifeless, half-naked body was paraded on the back of a Hamas pick-up trick as militants sat on top of her and jeered following the violent incursion.
She filmed splayed in the back of a truck, with one leg at an unnatural angle, terrorists sitting around it and supporters of the group cheering, running alongside and spitting on her.
Hamas said the body was a female Israeli soldier but last night it was confirmed to be Shani by her cousin Tomasina Weintraub-Louk.
Tomasina told DailyMail.com that the family recognized her distinctive leg tattoos and dreadlocked hair.
Her mother, Ricarda, released a heartbreaking video begging for help to find out what happened to her daughter.
Holding a picture of Shani on her mobile phone, she said: 'This morning my daughter, Shani Nicole Louk, a German citizen, was kidnapped with a group of tourists in southern Israel by Palestinian Hamas.
'We were sent a video in which I could clearly see our daughter unconscious in the car with the Palestinians and them driving around the Gaza Strip.
'I ask you to send us any help or any news. Thank you very much.'
Last night it was also reported that Doron Asher, 34, and her two daughters, Raz, five, and Aviv, three, were among Israeli civilians taken hostage by Hamas gunmen and held captive in Gaza.
As the search continues to find the missing, the death toll in Israel has risen to 700, according to Israeli media sites, with 2,300 being injured. More than 300 have been killed in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes pound the territory.
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