War in Israel: so far 26 Latin Americans missing after Hamas attack

At least seven Argentines died and 26 latin americans More remain missing after the attack Hamas to Israelannounced different governments in the region, which assured that they are holding talks with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to try to locate their compatriots.

Until now, the various authorities have said that fifteen Argentines, three Mexicans, three Brazilians, two Peruvians, two Colombians and one Chilean are missing.

The conflict that has left more than 1,000 dead on both sides has generated different reactions among Latin American governments, which since the weekend have expressed concern about the attacks suffered by Israel and have made calls to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis.

“We don’t want war. We don’t want confrontation. “We don’t want violence,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday as he called on the United Nations to convene an emergency meeting to approve a resolution that would help promote a “dialogue immediatelyand that it does not depend only on the Security Council.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday afternoon that seven of its nationals died in the attacks and another 15 remain missing. The government did not reveal the identity of the victims and only reported that 625 Argentines have requested to be evacuated from Israel.

Among the Argentines who died on Israeli soil, Silvia Mirensky, who lived on a collective farm, Rodolfo Fabián Skariszewski, Abi Korin and Ronit Rudman have been identified.

From Israel, Argentine Itzik Horn, father of Iair and Eitan, who disappeared in the Hamas attack, told a Buenos Aires radio station that his children are missing. “They are not in hospitals, but luckily for now they are not on the death list. The conclusion is that they took them to Gaza.”

The man lost contact with his children when they were in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip.

For its part, Mexico announced the sending of two army planes to Israel to search for hundreds of Mexicans who are stranded in Israel.

During his morning conference, López Obrador confirmed that three Mexicans remain missing after Hamas attacks on Israel. The president said that Mexican authorities are in contact with the relatives of the missing and with diplomats from Israel and Palestine, who have already begun search efforts.

Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Alicia Bárcena, reported on Sunday that a man and a woman were taken hostage by Hamas and that they would have been taken near the Gaza Strip.

Although authorities did not reveal their names, family and friends identified the missing Mexicans as Ilana Gritzewsky Camhi and Orión Hernández Padoux, who were at the music festival where Hamas carried out the attack on Israel.

Local media reported that Mexican David Heiblum was found alive in Israel, but so far the Foreign Ministry has not confirmed that he is one of the three Mexicans reported missing.

“We spent the most difficult days of our lives and received the best news we could receive”said Shirley Heiblum Berman, confirming to the local television station Foro TV the location of her brother with his wife Daryelis Denises Saez, of Panamanian origin.

The Israeli ambassador to Mexico, Einat Kranz Neiger, criticized López Obrador’s statement that his government would not take sides in the conflict and told local radio station Radio Formula that before the “atrocious attack” executed by Hamas “It must be condemned forcefully, without balance and without neutrality.” “Not taking sides is supporting terror and terrorism”he added.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Sunday that three Brazilians who attended a music festival in southern Israel are currently missing. All of them have dual Brazilian and Israeli nationality, the Foreign Ministry indicated, but did not provide their names.

The Brazilian embassy in Tel Aviv has received responses from almost 1,700 Brazilians expressing interest in repatriation. Most are tourists in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The Peruvian Foreign Ministry announced that two Peruvians have been reported missing. One of them was identified as Daniel Levi Ludmir, a doctor who was in the Be’eri kibbutz, a place near the Gaza Strip. The Peruvian community in Israel is made up of around 4,000 people, according to official figures.

The Peruvian ambassador to Israel, Manuel Cacho-Sousa, pointed out that one hundred or more Peruvians of Israeli origin residing in Israel have been called up to join the reserves of the Israeli army. In statements to public television, Cacho-Sousa said that he did not have an exact figure, but “There must be a good number, there could be a hundred or more.”

For its part, the Spanish government confirmed the disappearance of two Spaniards, one of them married to a Chilean woman, whose whereabouts are also unknown. The Chilean Foreign Ministry confirmed that there is no news about the woman, who lived near Gaza and that she was not identified.

Meanwhile, the Colombian Foreign Ministry reported that it is trying to locate two young people who were at a festival near the border between Gaza and Israel. The young people’s names are Antonio Macias Montano and Ivonne Rubio, according to their relatives.

Dozens of people gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in Bogotá on Monday to express their support by waving white and blue flags. During the day they scrubbed the walls with sponges and liquids to try to erase graffiti such as “Arafat lives” either “Free Palestine”which hours before appeared on the façade and on a nearby bridge.

“We are in solidarity with the Jewish people”Raúl Rubio, organizer of the demonstration, told The Associated Press, accusing the “Hamas terrorist group” of causing a tragedy in Israel by bombing the civilian population, as well as having “kidnapped Palestine” where “men, women and children are now going to be used as human shields.”

The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, has advocated on his social networks for a dialogue between Israel and Palestine. He has also said that the position as the Colombian government is to end Israel’s occupation of Palestine. “No democrat in the world can accept that Gaza be converted into a concentration camp,” he indicated on Monday on his X account, formerly called Twitter.

Source: AP