Waiting for news, kin of Israeli hostages share their loved ones’ lives, dreams
They range from babies to the elderly. Most are civilians. Israel says at least 199 people taken during the Hamas attack are being held captive in Gaza. Some of their families received frantic phone calls or texts during the attack. Others heard nothing and later saw video evidence their loved ones were taken. For now, they wait, desperate to find out whether the hostages are even alive. And they tell their stories. Here are some of them. __ JUDIH WEINSTEIN AND GAD HAGGAI Judih Weinstein and her husband, Gad Haggai, were on their morning walk when gunfire erupted and missiles streaked across the sky. Taking cover in a field, they could hear a recorded voice from an alert system for their kibbutz in southern Israel. “What did she say?” Weinstein, 70, asked in Hebrew as she captured the scene on video. “Red alert,” her 72-year-old husband said. Weinstein shared the 40-second video clip in a group chat Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Kibbutz Nir Oz. That has been their last contact with their family. More than a week later, Weinstein and Haggai are still missing. Their family used the video to pinpoint the couple’s last known location and shared it with the Israeli army, but a search came up empty. Their fate remains a mystery to their four grown children. A daughter, Iris Weinstein Haggai, has been relentlessly looking for answers from her home in Singapore. The family heard ominous news from a paramedic, who said Weinstein had called for medical help. “She said they were shot by terrorists on a motorcycle and that my dad was wounded really bad,” said Weinstein Haggai, 38. “Paramedics tried to send her an ambulance. The ambulance got hit by a rocket.” The paramedic lost contact with Weinstein, leaving her family grappling with worst-case scenarios. Haggai is a retired chef and jazz musician. Weinstein, a New York native, is a retired teacher. Both are pacifists who raised their children at the kibbutz, where everybody knows their neighbors. —Michael Kunzelman JUDITH AND NATALIE RAANAN Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter, Natalie Raanan, were excited to travel to Israel to celebrate a relative’s 85th birthday and the Jewish holiday season, according to their rabbi. The pair had been sending updates as the trip progressed and were enjoying “this really special mom and daughter time together,” Meir Hecht said. The family hasn’t heard from either mother or
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