“I am waiting for you. “I want to hug them.” Almost one hundred days after the capture of her two children, Silvia Cunio refuses to lose hope, just like the families of the hundreds of hostages held in Loop since the attack Hamas in Israeli territory, on October 7.
Nearly 250 people were kidnapped that day and taken to Gaza during an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement. In November, 105 were released thanks to a truce but according to Israeli authorities there are still 132 missing, the vast majority of them Israelis, civilians or military.
Within this group there are 25 who died without their bodies having been returned to their families. Another 11 bodies were able to return to Israel. “Bring them home now,” read posters scattered throughout the country, where the face of the missing is everywhere.
Some of those who were released begin to tell of their terrible experience, marked in some cases by the violence and sexual assaults that they say they have suffered or seen.
The relatives are organized and multiply press conferences, calls to the authorities and symbolic actions. Despite their dismay and pain, they refuse to give up.
“Horror movie”
In the case of Silvia Cunio, 63 years old, nine relatives or people close to her family were kidnapped on the morning of October 7, in the small kibbutz of Nir Oz, in the middle of ‘sabbat’.
Four remain kidnapped: two of their children, David, 33, and Ariel, 26; Ariel’s girlfriend, Arbel Yehud, 28; and his brother, Dolev, 35, father of four children.
The small farming town of Nir Oz, less than three kilometers from the Gaza Strip, was the scene of one of the worst massacres committed that day in southern Israel.
The Hamas attacks left a total of about 1,140 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on the number of Israeli casualties.
In retaliation, the Israeli army launched massive bombings and a ground offensive against the Gaza Strip that has so far left more than 23,200 dead, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
In her new apartment in the small town of Kyriat Gat, far from the kibbutz, Silvia Cunio has a T-shirt with her children’s faces printed on it on an armchair.
Constantly reread the latest messages on WhatsApp. At 08:28 that morning, Ariel wrote: “We are in a horror movie”. “Since that message there are no signs of life”says his mother.
The attack devastated Nir Oz, a town of 400 inhabitants.
Twenty-five people were killed on the spot and another 75 forcibly taken to the Gaza Strip, including Kfir Ibas, the youngest hostage on the list, who will turn one year old on January 18 and who is being held with his parents and son. brother Ariel, 4 years old.
Silvia Cunio arrived from Argentina to Israel in 1986, with her husband. And although she describes her life in Nir Oz as “the Paradise”now assures through tears that she will not return to the kibbutz, where she worked in a laundry and also as a hairdresser and manicurist.
Source: Gestion
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
