'Israel govt should for now focus only on getting hostages freed' (IANS FROM ISRAEL)

Arun Lakshman

Tel Aviv, Nov 20 (IANS) On November 20, which is also the World Children's Day, an Israeli woman remembers her nephew and nieces who are kidnapped and in custody of the Hamas terror group. 

Limor Sella Broyde, whose eight close family members are in the custody of Hamas, during an interaction with IANS spoke about her family members who are in Hamas' custody.

Those who have held hostage by Hamas are Shoshan Haran (68), her Husband Avshalom Haran (67), their daughter Adi (38) who is a psychologist, her husband, Tal and their two children, Yahel Neri (3) and Naveh (8).

Avshalom Haran's sister Sharon Avigdori who is a special needs psychologist and her 12 year old daughter Noam are in the custody of Hamas.

Here are some excerpts of the interaction.

IANS: There are reports of hostages being released soon, Your comments?

Limor: There are reports every other day. It feels like psychological warfare. We wont believe it until we see our loved one's back home.

IANS: Has the government of Israel taken up the issue of hostages properly?

Limor: As long as 240 people are still in Gaza, (I doubt) no they have not. We feel the priorities must change. the only goal has to be bringing them back home. Everything else must come later.

IANS: How has the world responded to your trauma?

Limor: We have never seen such extremes. We see a lot of fake news about what happened on October 7. Over 1,200 people were massacred, some in their homes, in front of their children... 240 people were taken hostages by a terror organisastion. The world needs to understand. It has nothing to do with the conflict and everything to do with a humanitarian crime.

IANS: Is the Jewish community being targeted across the world?

Limor: It is. We hear terrible things from our communities world wide.

IANS: The National Security Minister of Israel, Ben-Givr has said that fuel should not have been given to Gaza given the issue of hostages custody. Your comment?

Limor: It is a complicated issue. The past shows us that Hamas is taking resources from the civilians in Gaza to support their terror activities.

IANS: Do you feel that the highlight is only on the IDF invasion and the death of Palestinians? Is there a deliberate attempt to cover the Hamas massacre of October 7?

Limor: The highlight should be the war crimes and humanitarian crimes of Hamas. Our children must come back home. The world has to do anything in its power to support this cause.

--IANS

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