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Missing persons does not necessarily mean hostage or victim." Did government spokesman Olivier Véran want to be reassuring on Tuesday morning? Three days after an attack was launched in Israel by Hamas' military wing, 13 French citizens are officially missing. Their relatives have no sign of life.
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The Quai d'Orsay confirmed to Le Figaro on Tuesday that it still has "no news of thirteen compatriots", whose situation "is considered very worrying" "Some have most likely been kidnapped", the ministry added. While Hamas has claimed to have about 100 hostages in its hands, and Islamic Jihad about 30 others, "we can fear that there will be victims and/or hostages among them," Véran told Franceinfo. For his part, Emmanuel Macron said that France was in "very close coordination with the Israeli authorities" to find out if French people are among the hostages.
Eitan, 12, kidnapped on a motorcycle
Among the French missing, the youngest identified at this stage is "a minor child of twelve years old," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. This is Eitan, whose photo circulating on social networks has moved Internet users. The boy, who comes from a family living in a kibbutz in Nir Oz in southern Israel, a few hundred meters from the border with Gaza, was kidnapped Saturday by terrorists on a motorcycle, along with his parents and two sisters.
Ayala Yahalomi, Eitan's aunt, confirmed to Le Parisien that her nephew was indeed French, as were his mother and sisters, aged 10 and 1, who were also kidnapped on a motorcycle. "On one of them were Eitan's mother and her two sisters, on the other, the boy," the aunt said. Only the women managed to flee during a stop before crossing the border.
The day after their abduction, the aunt posted a photo of the boy on Facebook as well as that of his father, who also disappeared, with the caption: "Loves of my life." The aunt adds the description of the missing: Ohad, "49 years old, muscular physique, 1.90", and Eitan, "12.5 years old, simply a boy prodigy". "If anyone sees them in hospitals or has information. Share," she implores.
Message from 12-year-old Eitan's aunt posted on Facebook on Sunday. Screenshot / Facebook.
A 32-year-old mother, a native of Marseille
Among the other missing is French-Israeli Céline Ben-David Nagar. The 32-year-old mother of a six-month-old baby was caught by Hamas rockets as she joined the electro rave party near Gaza on Saturday, where 260 bodies were found after the terrorists' attack.
Her brother Samuel, who testifies on BFMTV, scrambled to find her, calling the hospitals in the area, to no avail. He says Celine was in her 4x4, less than a kilometer from the party, when the sirens sounded. "She went back to the house, that's where she spoke with her husband (on the phone). She said, "There are soldiers coming to help us!" But it wasn't soldiers, it was Hamas fighterswho shot at them."
Céline Ben-David Nagar, 32, has been missing near the Gaza Strip since Saturday. Twitter
"Her husband found the car yesterday, completely machine-gunned," the brother continued, "with the Hamas motorcycle behind it, the driver's blood. But there's no news from Céline." From Israel, her husband tearfully sent a message to BFMTV. "Céline, if you see these pictures, your daughter Hélie is in good health."
France 3 Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur has also identified a young man of Marseille origin in the missing. The 25-year-old French-Israeli, born in Marseille, had been living in Israel with his family for several years. His relatives said they had no news. The Israelite consistory of Marseille, which told France 3 to receive information "in dribs and drabs" about the young man, refuses to communicate at this stage.
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Risk of a higher number of casualties
Avidan T., a 26-year-old from Bordeaux who has been missing since Sunday, was finally found dead on Tuesday. According to Meyer Habib, an MP living outside France who had alerted to his disappearance, the Franco-Israeli, who had gone to the rave party in the desert, was indeed "massacred" by Hamas fighters.
MK Meyer Habib fears that the French death toll will rise further, with about 87,000 French nationals living in Israel, not counting tourists.
If they turn out to be hostages, how long will the eventual negotiations for their release last? The last French-Israeli prisoner of Hamas, Gilad Shalit, an army soldier kidnapped in 2006, spent five years in the hands of his captors before being released.