At 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7, the piercing sound of sirens awakened Naama Weinberg in her Tel Aviv condominium. As she at all times did when sirens warned of an incoming missile assault, she instantly checked her household’s WhatsApp group chat for messages from relations residing in a kibbutz close to the Gaza border.
“Please pray for us,” her aunt wrote, describing the sounds of screaming and capturing.
Then a pink coronary heart emoji.
Then silence.
Itay Raviv, left, and sisters Naama and Ofir Weinberg attend a dinner in Beverly Hills to share the tales of relations who’re being held hostage by Hamas.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Occasions)
Weinberg, 27, would later study from Israeli authorities officers that her aunt, Orit Svirsky, was murdered that day — shot whereas hiding underneath blankets — through the assault by Hamas militants. Her uncle, Rafi Svirsky, was discovered lifeless in a close-by home together with his three golden retrievers, all shot. Her 97-year-old grandmother, Aviva Sela, one way or the other survived, however the physique of Gracie Cabrera, her longtime caretaker from the Philippines, was discovered mutilated close to the house.
Her cousin, 38-year-old Itay Svirsky, was gone. The household was advised by Israeli authorities officers that Svirsky was kidnapped and is being held by Hamas someplace in Gaza.
And he stays in captivity — failing to win launch within the trade of Israel hostages for Palestinian prisoners that started throughout a cease-fire final week. To date, Hamas has launched about 105 hostages — most of them Israeli girls and kids — and nonetheless holds about 135. Israel has launched about 240 prisoners.
Weinberg and her sister Ofir, 24, got here to Los Angeles final week to share their story concerning the assault on Oct. 7, which killed no less than 1,200 Israelis — the deadliest assault within the nation’s 75-year historical past. Greater than 15,500 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed throughout Israel’s retaliatory strikes, in keeping with the Hamas-run well being ministry.
The Weinbergs got here to induce the world to not neglect their cousin and the opposite hostages who stay in Hamas’ arms. They have been joined by Itay Raviv, whose great-uncle, 78-year-old Avraham Munder, stays a hostage; all three spoke at a dinner in Beverly Hills on Saturday with representatives of the American Jewish Committee and different supporters of Israel.
Raviv, 27, and the Weinbergs requested the dinner visitors to do one factor to assist the hostages — enchantment to elected officers, share a social media publish, contact nonprofits and charities. They shared photographs of their relations and the necklaces they carry with them inscribed with the phrase in Hebrew, “Our coronary heart is captive in Gaza,” and, in English: “Convey them residence now!”
The household believes Svirsky remains to be alive, based mostly on accounts of hostages who noticed him earlier than they have been launched. They mentioned he had not been bodily harmed however was underneath excessive psychological duress as a result of Hamas captors have been telling hostages that Israel had been destroyed, that they had no residence to return to and nobody was preventing for them. His relations additionally stay with the each day concern that he may very well be executed whereas in captivity.
Itay Raviv, left, and siblings Naama and Ofir Weinberg present necklaces inscribed with the phrase in Hebrew, “Our coronary heart is captive in Gaza,” and, in English: “Convey them residence now!”
(Ringo Chiu / For The Occasions)
“We’re very fearful that the injury may very well be irreversible,” Ofir Weinberg mentioned. “That’s the reason the clock is ticking.”
Three of Raviv’s relations — his great-aunt Ruthi Munder, her daughter Keren Munder and 9-year-old grandson Ohad Munder-Zichri — have been launched as a part of the hostage deal. However their home within the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel lower than a mile from the Gaza Strip was partly burned, Raviv mentioned.
Raviv mentioned his relations weren’t overwhelmed and managed to outlive on meager parts of rice and bread. They advised him they have been moved from place to put — generally to below-ground tunnels — and slept on the bottom with out the power to scrub. He considers his household fortunate for having the ability to reunite with three of his relations — however he worries consistently about his nice uncle, who walks with a cane and suffered bruises falling off a bike throughout his abduction, in keeping with studies from launched hostages who noticed him throughout captivity.
“He doesn’t have that a lot time,” Raviv mentioned. “He will be unable to outlive. Despite the fact that some hostages have been launched, we should do every part in our energy to talk out. I’m not a politician. I don’t know what the very best resolution is. I simply know that they must be out.”
Raviv and the Weinbergs mentioned their relations had sought to stay in peace with their Palestinian neighbors — amassing month-to-month donations for individuals who used to work within the kibbutz however not might after Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. The Weinbergs’ aunt, Orit Svirsky, had attended a global girls’s peace convention three days earlier than she was murdered. Raviv mentioned his great-uncle, in his youthful days, would volunteer to drive Palestinians north to Israel for medical care.
Itay, the sisters mentioned, had began work as a “life coach” specializing in psychological well being after learning philosophy, psychology and economics. He liked guitar and yoga and grew up within the Be’eri kibbutz, co-founded by her grandparents 77 years in the past in southern Israel close to the Gaza Strip. Her grandparents, whose household had escaped the pogroms of Russia within the early twentieth century, began the kibbutz as a lifelong mission to create a communal, secure place for Jewish individuals in Israel, she mentioned.
Regardless of the many years of bloodshed and bitterness, the younger Israelis say they refuse to surrender their dream of peace.
“It’s actually onerous to think about proper now, however I nonetheless imagine the battle could be solved with phrases and with out violence,” Ofir Weinberg mentioned, referring to understandings with the broader Palestinian individuals and never Hamas.
“I perceive the Palestinian individuals ought to keep. I acknowledge that is their residence,” she mentioned. “I simply need us to coexist in peace.”
Naama Weinberg, left, holds an image of her cousin Itay Svirsky, who’s a hostage in Gaza, as her sister Ofir shares her story throughout a dinner in Beverly Hills.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Occasions)
For now, nevertheless, Weinberg mentioned her world has narrowed to 1 overriding objective: to see the return of her cousin. She has stopped her research and brought time without work from a part-time job at a outstanding Israeli tech agency. She has delay a trip to the Philippines along with her accomplice. She’s moved again residence to stick with her mother and father, who’re constructing a small unit of their backyard for Weinberg’s grandmother to stay.
Her solely dream now could be to see her cousin alive, sitting with their grandmother and sharing their favourite deal with: a cup of chilly espresso with a scoop of ice cream.