The faces of the girls STILL being held by Hamas as their families make a desperate plea for their release three months after they were captured.
Watching the terrified faces of the four bloodstained teenage girls being paraded by Hamas gunmen was beyond their parents’ worst nightmare.
The haunting images were taken just hours after they were kidnapped and Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Daniela Gilboa and Agam Berger appeared shadows of their former selves.
Three months have passed since that recording of them lined up against a wall in Gaza, their hands bound behind them – and still they are in captivity.
The parents of four Israeli girls, Liri Elbag, Karina Arieva, Agam Berger and Daniela Gilboa, who were kidnapped by terrorists and held by Hamas in Gaza for more than 90 days, gave shocking photos of their daughters to the British newspaper The Daily Mail. The publication published the photos on the front page of its Monday, January 8, edition.
Each photo is accompanied by a story of pain and despair from the abducted girls’ parents. “Imagine that this beloved daughter of yours is being held captive by thugs with bloody hands,” reads the question addressed to all parents on the planet.
The photos in the newspaper are placed in pairs, one before October 7 and one after. The images are taken from videos distributed by Hamas. It is impossible to look at the faces of the girls without tears.
There were several videos. First, there was a short video of the hostages. Another video showed the girls being pushed into the back of a truck and threatened with weapons. Then came testimonies of horrific abuse and sexual violence against the captives.
“Imagine if it was your daughter, your little girl in their hands,” Daniela’s mother Orly, 38, said. “What would you imagine?”
Liri’s father Eli, 54, said: ‘Think for one day that you don’t have connection with your daughter and you know they are in the hands of bad people. Then tell me what you would say after 90 days. This is killing us. Every minute is like an hour.’
The girls were snatched from Nahal Oz, near the Gaza border, in the first hours of the Hamas attack on October 7 in which 1,200 died and scores of women were raped.
“We know what the terrorists did on October 7,” said Daniela’s mother, who dreamed of a career as a singer. – If they could do that in one day, what can they do in 90? I don’t even want to think about what these girls have been through.
The families of the abductees try to support each other. “We get together and cry together,” admitted Shiri Elbag, a mother of four whose youngest daughter, Liri, is in Gaza.
Agam, 19, from Holon, is a talented violinist with a bright future. “We have heard a lot about what these subhumans do to Israeli girls in captivity,” her father Shlomi told me. – I can’t even think about what happens there…”
Karina, 19, from Jerusalem, has a sister, Sasha. “It is a terrible feeling – helplessness,” she said. – My mother is in a terrible state, she doesn’t know what to do.
“They cannot be there for one more day”
Hen Goldstein-Almog, who was released from captivity with her three children, said she met girls during her captivity. “Some were very young, the age of my children, and I tried to hug them and comfort them,” she said, unable to hold back tears. According to her, terrible things happen there.
There were girls who spent 50 days or more in captivity, held by Hamas” Hen said. – They cried all the time. They told how they were beaten and molested. They described sexual harassment at gunpoint on a daily basis. Some were injured and not given medical attention. Some even lost limbs…”
According to Goldstein-Almog, “They are strong and have not lost hope. But the hostages are dying every day in captivity. They must be released as soon as possible”.
NATALIE LISBONA IN TEL AVIV and ANDY JEHRING IN LONDON FOR THE DAILY MAIL
