"Being Raped, Or Dead": Israeli Man Awaits Call From 'Missing' Daughters

Ori last spoke to his daughters on Saturday morning when they told him that they were scared as they could hear a carnage of gunshots. He told his daughters, Hodaya and Tair, to lie on the ground and not make a sound.

"I told them to lay with their faces towards the ground. Don't even breathe, I told them," Ori says.

But the last thing he heard from one of his daughters was four deep breaths. Since then, he hasn't been able to get through to their phones.

"I close my eyes and I don't know where they are. They are either being raped in Gaza or dead in a ditch somewhere," Ori says in a video shared by Israel on their official X account.

“I close my eyes and I don't know where they are. They are either being raped in Gaza, or dead in a ditch somewhere.”

Listen to this father. pic.twitter.com/gFLW3L5ZjS

— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) October 11, 2023

Ori's daughters are two of an unknown number of Israelis who have been captured and presumed held hostage after an unprecedented invasion by Hamas fighters of southern Israel. Videos posted online show armed men marching or dragging men and women through the streets, some elderly, some bloodied.

A music festival in Southern Israel near the Gaza border was one of the first targets of the Hamas fighters. Over 250 people at the festival were killed in cold blood by Hamas operatives, while hundreds were taken captive.

At least 3,000 people have died since Hamas launched a rocket barrage on Israel, forcing them to retaliate with airstrikes. Hamas fighters also broke past the barriers using motorbikes, pickup trucks, speed boats, and even motorised gliders and took control of several Israeli cities.

Israeli authorities have responded with force in Gaza, bombing buildings and killing at least 436 people, including 91 children and 61 women, according to Gaza's health ministry. On Monday morning, Israel was still trying to regain control of seven or eight places, Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Richard Hecht said.

But the hostage taking by Hamas has struck a nerve with Israel and made the country's response more complicated — and, potentially, more deadly. Israeli military forces have been slowed by the presence of hostages and missing civilians, Mr Hecht said.