- Title: PERSONAL: Release of U.S. hostages gives hope for Israeli family of abductee
- Date: 21st October 2023
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) 49-YEAR-OLD OF MOTHER OF HOSTAGE KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS MILITANTS, MOTHER NIVA WENKERT, SAYING: “We saw now that there is trucks of drugs, and goods for the Palestinians. I ask why my kids, my kid Omer that have a severe chronic disease, colitis, that can kill him if he doesn’t have medicine, why he doesn’t get medicine now?!” SHAI AND NIVA SITTING ON COUCH AND CHATTING, PHOTO OF OMER ABOVE ON WALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) 49-YEAR-OLD OF MOTHER OF HOSTAGE KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS MILITANTS, MOTHER NIVA WENKERT, SAYING: “I have a message for Israeli government. The war is only going to stop when all the kidnapped are coming home. Until then, the war is still going on.”
- Embargoed: 4th November 2023 14:48
- Keywords: conflict family gaza hamas hostage israel kidnapped oct. 7
- Location: GEDERA, ISRAEL
- City: GEDERA, ISRAEL
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA003201121102023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The recent release of two U.S. hostages, released by Hamas on Friday (October 20), has given a sliver of hope for the parents of 22-year-old Omer Wenkert, who was among the many hostages the militants took during their Oct. 7 assault on Israeli soil.
“(On) the one hand, it’s giving me hope that my son Omer will be out as soon as possible,” Omer’s mother, Niva Wenkert, told Reuters on Saturday (October 21) from their family home in Gedera.
According to Omer’s parents, he was abducted while attending the Nova music festival that weekend. During the initial morning attacks, Omer was in touch his parents when he climbed into a bomb shelter, but communications soon dropped.
Three or four hours later, his parents saw a video of Omer, bound and tied in the back of a pickup truck surrounded by cheering militants, released via Hamas' official Telegram channel.
Nova and her husband, Shai Wenkert, are hopeful that hostage negotiations can proceed forward and include all of the hostages, not just individuals.
“I have a message for Israeli government. The war is only going to stop when all the kidnapped are coming home. Until then, the war is still going on,” said Shai.
Hamas has said it took about 200 hostages during a deadly Oct. 7 rampage carried out from the Gaza Strip on communities and military bases in southern Israel, part of the bloodiest attack on the country since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Israel has responded to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants by subjecting Gaza to the most intense bombardment it has ever seen, putting the enclave, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under total siege and destroying much of its infrastructure.
More than 4,100 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's counteroffensive, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, amid a growing humanitarian crisis.
(Production: Eli Berlzon) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
