One by one, the families arrived, until the lobby in Office 433 was too narrow to accommodate. A father looking for his daughter who went out to party, children waiting for a sign of life from their parents living in the surrounding communities, an endless list of names behind each of them a whole world. From time to time there was a soft crying sound. Moving between hope and despair.
Nitzan Yaakov looking for her two missing sisters and nephew // Photo: Noam (Dabol) Dvir
Lahav 433's offices in the airport complex have become a center for locating missing persons. Family members looking for loved ones were asked to come with identifying items, such as those from which DNA and a photo could be extracted. A file is opened for everyone, every family is questioned. They all describe mainly the chaos, the lack of information, the lack of response and helplessness, due to the fact that no one simply has answers.
Among them came Ella and Alexei, parents of Nir Popov, 25. They have been searching for him since Saturday morning, when the attack began. Nir is Minister Shlomo Krei's security guard and made his way to work, but has since disappeared.
Parents of 25-year-old Nir Popov, photo: Yossi Zeliger
"I don't know about him, they saw his car at Sha'ar Hanegev at around 6 a.m. and since then he has disappeared," his mother says. "Everyone is silent, no one knows where he is. When the rocket fire began, we tried to reach him – and there is no response. We contacted every possible hotline. We gave away our comb and toothbrush so they could produce DNA."
"No one knows what's going on": Anna and Alexei looking for their son Nir // Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
Father Alexei adds: "There is no hospital where we haven't looked for him. Every four hours I went to Barzilai (Ashkelon Hospital). We just want to know about him."
The girls are waiting for their parents
Several stations were set up at the missing persons center. The family members first meet with a social worker and then undergo questioning, in which they provide details and relevant information.
The questioners ask the many families who come to the site to provide identifying details, find out when they last spoke with the missing person, what the missing person described, where he was, identification methods and more. DNA samples such as clothing, hairbrush, toothbrush and more are then removed. Those conducting the investigation are, among other things, police investigators, who are used to completely different situations.
Jessica Alter on her boyfriend who was apparently kidnapped by Hamas / TikTok
Yogev Tamam has been searching for his brother Adir and sister-in-law Shiraz for two days now, parents of two young daughters who spent time at a party in Reim. "Already on Saturday night we gave testimony at the police station, this morning we decided to go back and search the hospitals again and also come here to see if there is new information," Yogev says.
"There's one big chaos, you call hospitals and they're saying, 'We don't have information.' Call the police - they transfer you from this officer to this hotline, they don't really give information. They sent us to search the army, but there was no answer. I just ask, do everything you can to bring them or bring us information. I sat down to watch videos of kidnappings, I saw them all and we couldn't see them."
Adir and Shiraz Tamam, photo: Courtesy of the family
The Tamams were caught up in the terrorist attack in the morning and immediately contacted the family, but after a short time they disappeared.
"Let the whole world see what I'm going through"
"At 6:10 in the morning, at the first sirens, we were still in contact with them, we spoke to them and they said they were not well but hoped the army would come and rescue them. There telephone contact and messages were cut off. We tracked the vehicle in the teen lane. This morning they found the car on the levels but they were not there. They have two young daughters, ages 8 and <>, we told them that right now we don't know where mom and dad are and when there is information we'll update them," he said, bursting into tears.
The mother of one of the missing cries out to the chairman of the health committee: "I'm collapsing - I just want my son!"
Alongside the families of the civilians came parents of IDF soldiers who could not find a solution from the military authorities. For example, the family of a female soldier who served on the Gaza border said:
"There is no one to contact in the army, some of the commanders are dying. There is no one to talk to, not with the hotlines, not with the published numbers, they are not synchronized between them. There are a lot of parents of soldiers who don't know anything. The army didn't talk to us. There's an officer from inside the army who asked us if we knew anything. No one talks about the soldiers."
Liza, sister of Hodia and Tair David, Photo: Gideon Markowitz
Last night, representatives of the families held a press conference, during which they said they had set up a delegation to join together and return their relatives.
"I ask the whole world to see what I'm going through," said Uri David, father of missing women Hudia and Tair, "We must bring the children home - and as soon as possible. We need someone to give us answers. Maybe not all of them, but at least some. 48 hours - and we didn't get a comma of information from the authorities."
Participated in the preparation of the article Merav Sever
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