Hamas has threatened to kill a hostage every time Israel strikes Gaza without warning civilians.
On Sunday, Israel declared war on Hamas following a weekend of violence that saw hundreds of people killed.
Authorities estimate Hamas has kidnapped as many as 100 Israelis and dragged them off to Gaza.
Israel is at war.
We didn’t want this war.
It was forced upon us in the most brutal and savage way.
But though Israel didn’t start this war, Israel will finish it.
Once, the Jewish people were stateless.
Once, the Jewish people were defenseless.
No longer.
Hamas will… pic.twitter.com/eVECGnzLu3— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 9, 2023
In one case, the abduction of a family was filmed and posted on the internet.
Three generations of the Bibas Silverman family have been taken - the youngest of whom is nine-months-old.
From Tel Aviv, their cousin Yori spoke to Sky News of his agony watching the footage.
"The first time I saw the pictures I couldn't believe it,” he said.
“I couldn't comprehend what I saw, then I look at another picture and it was very clear that this is my cousin Shiri and the two little children."
An Israeli official told the BBC if the hostages are killed then, “We will do to Hamas what the world did with ISIS and al-Qaeda”.
Gaza
Israel has ordered a complete siege of Gaza, cutting off food, water, medicine and electricity from the territory.
"No electricity, no food, no water, no gas - it's all closed," Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.
“We are fighting animals and are acting accordingly."
Overnight, Israeli air strikes on the Gaza strip have hit over 200 targets and Palestinian authorities have said almost 690 people have been killed.
Busha Khalidi, an aid worker in the West Bank, told the BBC she is having trouble contacting her family in Gaza.
"My nephews are terrified and live in complete terror, all they've known in their is a blockade and wars. They won't go anywhere without their mother, even inside their own home," she said.
"The family have told me they sleep together, so this way if they die, they die together."
‘Appalling’
Ireland has condemned the actions of Hamas and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has described their actions as “appalling”.
The Government has called for the immediate release of all hostages and Tánaiste Micheál Martin spoke of his sadness that the lives of people in Israel and Palestine would be “irrevocably scarred by this violence”.
My statement on Hamas’ attack on Israel pic.twitter.com/2RJJihXylM
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) October 9, 2023
EU Foreign Ministers will meet today and Ireland will press the international community to deliver a “just and sustainable peace”.
Main image: Smoke rises after the Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Picture by: AP Photo/Fatima Shbair.
