Deaths in Gaza, Israeli response and more

A relative of an Israeli who disappeared after being abducted from a kibbutz by Hamas two weeks ago said she lives in hope that he will soon be freed and reunited with his two young daughters.

Omri Miran was abducted by Hamas fighters in front of his wife and daughters, who survived the brutal attack, his brother-in-law Moshe Lavi told CNN.

“This is a very difficult time for our family,” said Lavie from New York. “I was supposed to return home this week, but my family urged me to stay here and speak out for my sister, our family and those affected by this tragedy.”

It’s been a “terrible” couple of weeks, Lavie said, worrying about her sister and her two children, one aged two and the other six months.

His two-year-old daughter-in-law has been asking about her father and when he will return home.

“Every night before she goes to sleep, she says ‘Goodnight, Daddy,’ because she hopes he hears her,” Lavie said.

During the October 7 offensive, according to Israeli officials, Hamas militants killed more than 1,400 people, including civilians and soldiers, and kidnapped about 200 others. It was the deadliest attack by the militants in Israel’s 75-year history, described as the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Lavie, who worked in the Defense Department’s Special Branch, said the trauma her two-year-old niece experienced will stay with her for a long time.

“He will remember for the rest of his life the hours he spent with a gunshot wound to the face, the body of a teenage girl, and the adults next to him covered in blood,” he said. .

“But I know our family is strong. We come from a strong community. We will support them and do everything we can to live a normal life.”

Hamas on Friday released two American hostages, Judith Tay Ranan and her 17-year-old daughter Natalie Ranan, giving Lavi’s family hope that Miran will return home soon.

“I’m generally a realist,” he said. “But I have to have faith right now. I have to have it for my family and for my own good.”