The Hamas invasion of Israel amounts to a “second Holocaust”, British families of Israeli hostages have said.
The mother of Noam Sagi, 53, and the parents of Sharon Lifschitz, 52, were taken hostage after Hamas fighters entered Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border with Gaza on Saturday.
Babies are reported to have been murdered on the kibbutz and the more than 1,000 Israelis have been killed since Saturday.
A press conference in London was told the situation has created “the biggest hostage crisis the world has faced in decades”.
Mr Sagi, a London-based psychotherapist who grew up on the kibbutz, told reporters he should be celebrating his mother Ada’s 75th birthday.
He said: “I shouldn’t be sitting here today. I should be on my way to Heathrow to pick up my mum … to celebrate her 75th birthday today with her family here in London.
“I am here because of pure evil. I am here because I need to ask for help to release babies, kids, mothers and old people.
“On Saturday morning, Kibbutz Nir Oz, where I was born and grew up, woke up to a massacre – to a second Holocaust.
“They had been gassed, burned, butchered, slaughtered, killed and kidnapped.
“These are peace-loving people who fought all their lives for good neighbouring relationships.
“If they will die for peace, they will take it. If they will die for war, that will be another travesty.”
Ms Lifschitz told how her parents, whom she is not naming out of fear for their safety, have fought for peace in the region all their lives.
The artist and academic, who also grew up on the kibbutz, said: “My mum was taken out, she was kind of disconnected from her oxygen in order to be loaded onto a motorbike or whatever it is, I don’t know.
“My father spent his life fighting for peace. I am his daughter. We are all his children.
“When we ask for peace, we ask to see the human within each of us.”
She became emotional as she told of how she had visited her parents on the kibbutz last month.
She said: “I think they felt they were on borrowed time. They were still there.
“My father just got back his driving licence. I don’t know if that was wise.
“They were just living the moment. It was so beautiful.
“My parents, you know this morning I was looking at a little picture of them driving the little mobility kind of thing and they just, they just looked really happy.
“They were so enjoying the time they were having.”
She said the distinction between Hamas and the Palestinian people must “now be absolutely clear” and that she “can’t imagine” how Palestinians cope under their rule.
She added: “This is the defining moment of our life. We are going to spend the rest of our lives dealing with this atrocity.
“We have yet to really comprehend what took place. Now, we are still in this event and we are not up to date and, in this event, these children and elderly must come back.
“This is people with cancer, this is people with dementia, this is people with Parkinson’s.”
Mr Sagi and Ms Lifschitz both said life had been “difficult” and “really strange” since the invasion but they are being supported by “amazing friends”.
I don't have words to look at my son into his eyes and say 'this is why it happened' because I can't comprehend and I can't explain— Noam Sagi
Mr Sagi said of the invasion: “Nothing prepares you for that. Up until Friday, I’m working with my clients to help them with their own emotions, to get better … and then everything comes back to the basic, basic, basic existential reasoning for ‘what the hell are we here for? What’s going on, is my mum alive?”
“Can someone remind me why she is a hostage? For being Jewish living in her own home in Israel?
“I don’t have words to look at my son into his eyes and say ‘this is why it happened’ because I can’t comprehend and I can’t explain.
“I know that every person who was involved in this attack has a heart pumping in them and my wish is that they would see that these people, they’re humans.”
He told reporters he had “lost” his faith in humanity on Saturday but the support he has had from Londoners since has helped him to restore it.
However, he expressed concern for the safety of Jewish people in the UK as the conflict unfolds after being told at an event in north London that some Jewish pupils are afraid to go to school.
He said: “This is how what happened there is actually happening here.”
