Watch: Israeli mother protects her baby daughter as husband is kidnapped by Hamas
This is the terrifying moment an Israeli mother clutches her baby as Hamas militants kidnap her husband.
The wife of Omri Miran, 46, who was taken hostage from his home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz on 7 October, has given a harrowing insight into his kidnapping.
Mother-of-two Lishay Lavi, 38, held on to her six-month-old daughter Alma while her husband was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on the day of the widespread Hamas attacks that left 1,200 Israelis dead and more than 200 taken hostage.
READ HERE FOR LIVE UPDATES FROM ISRAEL AND GAZA
Video released by Hamas shows Lavi holding Alma in the kitchen of her neighbours’ home, where she and her husband and their two children and others were held at gunpoint.
In the clip, Lavi flinches while holding her daughter as a gunshot is heard in the background. The shadows of Hamas gunmen can be seen walking around the family.
They had been taken from their home in their pyjamas at gunpoint and held in the neighbours’ house.
Israel says Hamas abducted at least five residents, including Miran, and killed 14 others during its attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Recommended reading
Lavi is now living with her two girls at her parents’ home in Kibbutz Kramim, a small community bordering the West Bank.
She heard weeks ago that Miran is being held by Hamas in Gaza, but has not received any further updates.
Lavi described the moment when he was kidnapped, with the couple saying their goodbyes in front of their children before he was dragged from the room.
“I know that this is what’s going to happen when they took him,” she told the Reuters news agency.
“I told him four sentences. I told him that I love him, I told him that I (will) guard our daughter, that I’m waiting for him, and I told him also, ‘don’t be a hero, because I want you back here.’”
Lavi said her eldest daughter, two-year-old Roni, keeps asking about her father.
She said she now tells her: “Daddy got lost.”
Lavi said: “I’m in therapy, of course. But now I’m trying to be strong, because I have another fight to do.
“It’s not just me. I need my Omri back, I need my man back. I need all the world to understand that Omri (was) taken from our home, in his boxer (shorts), without shoes even, and we need him back. Roni and Alma needs him back. So this is my war now.”
She added: “It seems like everyone’s talking about the children, of course, the women, of course.
“But the men… this is important to understand that these people, they are citizens. They are not soldiers. And they need to come back also.”
Will there be a ceasefire?
Following the Hamas assault on 7 October which killed about 1,200 Israelis, at least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 5,500 children, by Israeli air strikes.
The United Nations says two thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been made homeless.
Israeli troops entered Gaza at the end of last month and have seized areas around Gaza City.
In China on Monday, Arab and Muslim ministers joined international calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, said Israel was hopeful a significant number of hostages could be released by Hamas “in coming days”.
On Sunday, Qatari prime minister Sheik Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said the main obstacles to a deal were now “very minor”, with mainly “practical and logistical” issues remaining.
