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From our special correspondent in Tel Aviv – At least 199 people were abducted by Hamas and Islamic Jihad during the terrorist attacks on October 7. For their families back home, the uncertainty is agonising. More than a week later, Orian Adar and Keren Schem are still torn between hope and despair.
There are dark circles around Orian Adar’s eyes – she can’t sleep anymore. She has been waiting without hope for news of her “savta” – Hebrew for grandmother – for more than a week now. Yaffa Adar, 85 years old, was kidnapped by Hamas in the Nir Oz kibbutz, not far from the Gaza Strip.
“We were supposed to visit her that day. She loved those visits,” Orian says. “My two children are the joy of her life. She would do anything for them.”
On Saturday, October 7, Orian and her family woke early to the devastating news from southern Israel. She quickly realised the situation was serious, and that they would have to postpone their reunion. They joked on the family WhatsApp group about the enormous amount of food Yaffa would have to eat by herself. Then, just before 9am, everything changed.
“She told us there were terrorists in the kibbutz and that there was gun fighting in the streets. The first thing I said was ‘Grandma, be careful’.”
She never heard back.
Sitting beneath the constant hum of military helicopters, sheltered in her sister Adva’s garden, Orian is in tears.
“We were worried, but we didn’t realise the extent of what was happening. In the early afternoon, when the army finally arrived, they saw that the house had been turned upside down. But she wasn’t there,” Orian says. “My aunt, who had managed…
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Source : france24
