For six days, an Israeli mother has been desperately looking for any sign of life for her daughter Roni, a 19-year-old girl who was at an Israeli military post near the Gaza border on Saturday morning when Hamas raided in force. "It was six hellish days. I was left without air, sleepless", she tells ANSA in what is an appeal to those who frequent social networks, in the hope that they will find at least a trace of her missing daughter.
"I heard from her for the last time on Saturday morning, it was half past nine", three hours after the attack began: "I am in the Hama'l", a command post", Roni wrote to her on WhatsApp in a message in which he reassured her mother telling her to "be fine. There is no reception here, don't worry. I love you", the last sentences. Since then, the woman no longer knows what happened to her daughter: "It is neither in the official list of victims nor in that of the kidnapped", the woman continues anguished.
By gathering fragments of information, she was able to establish that the Hamas al Hama''l attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz took place at 12 noon on Saturday. "They fired a rocket at the building, or maybe they used explosives. Everything was burned" and some of the female soldiers who were inside managed to escape, others were killed, others burned alive and "five of them then appeared in images taken in Gaza", taken prisoner.
So far, Israel has confirmed the presence of 97 Israeli hostages and prisoners in Gaza. But nothing is known about Roni.
Sharon, this is the name of her mother, has managed to activate two support nuclei in these days. One in charge of scanning the web, of examining every possible visual fragment, however atrocious and shocking it is. "There were those who thought that the Nazis had reached the height of savagery and inhumanity. Now we know that there are also those who have overcome them. Not even the Nazis were guilty of atrocities like those that took place on Saturday in the Western Negev." The second nucleus tries to find help on social media, to make known the disappearance of Roni, and perhaps bring the case to the attention of Hamas, in Gaza.
Roni passed her high school exams last year, then took a vacation in Cyprus before joining the army. Now Sharon is really exhausted and confesses: "I am a mother and I have two other children. I went to the point of hoping and wishing that my daughter had been kidnapped." Even if that were the case, it remains unclear whether it is in the hands of Hamas – which said it has 120 prisoners – or Islamic Jihad, which claims to have "over 20".
"I ask anyone who is able, to send me a sign of life," the woman implores: "We demand that all hostages be released immediately."
"The whole world needs to know that Hamas is just like ISIS. Here they carried out massacres. Today they happen here, tomorrow they could happen elsewhere", concludes the woman, launching a sort of warning to the rest of the world.
All rights reserved © Copyright ANSA