Hamas threatens to execute civilian hostages – DW – 10/10/2023

Galit Dan, an Israeli woman, has recounted her terrifying ordeal of being trapped in a safe room in her house in the Kibbutz Kissufim for more than 20 hours after Hamas militants attacked Israel.

“A terrorist came into my home, tried to open the door. We were my boyfriend, me and my young daughter. We couldn’t breathe. We didn’t move. We were scared,” she told DW. 

The gunman “just sat down in our [living room] with his gun and shot everybody who passed,” she added.

Dan also exchanged frantic messages with her 80-year-old mother and her 12-year-old daughter, Noya, who were also under attack in nearby Kibbutz Nir Oz.

“I asked her, ‘Did you lock the door?’ She said ‘yes’. But I know she couldn’t because there’s no way to lock the door. At 12 in the afternoon I lost contact with them.”

Israeli army soldiers finally freed Dan and the other people from the safe room, but she didn’t know what happened to her mother and daughter.

“It’s also my nephews and the ex of my sister and a lot of people from the kibbutz Nir Oz. A lot of old people and also young people and babies.”

She called on the international community to help and to do something to free the people kidnapped by Hamas. 

“I want the world to act, to do something: the UN, the Red Cross, somebody help us, please do something. If you can talk with Hamas, if you can talk with the soldiers and tell them to release the people, please, please do that.”