2023-12-16 00:35:35
Israel announced this Friday in a statement that it recovered the bodies of three people who had been taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, including Ron Sherman, Leon Gieco’s great-nephew.
Ron Sherman
Sherman was 19 years old. He was the son of Alex, nephew of León Gieco, and had dual citizenship: Israeli and Argentine. For a year he had been completing mandatory military service in Israel. The last time he spoke to his family was on the morning of October 7, when the military base he was at was attacked by Hamas.
As explosions and gunshots occurred, Sherman told them in a call that he had gone to the shelter and at one point told them he couldn’t talk anymore and hung up. He then continued to communicate with his family through text messages on Whatsapp. His father said in an interview that Sherman spoke to them about the shootings and that he heard voices giving orders in Arabic. At one point he said: “I can’t talk anymore, I’m done, I love you so much. Bye.” The phone has since been disconnected.
When the terrorist attack became global news, the Palestinian group posted images online of the kidnapping of Sherman and other Israeli soldiers. In them you could see the young man dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, and he showed marks from blows. It was the last they heard from him.
Days later, León Gieco asked on social networks for peace between Arabs and Israelis. “I am León Gieco and (I am) as a musician always committed to peace and today overwhelmed by the extreme situation in the Middle East, by the blindness and harshness of the politicians and these acts of terror, where the victims are always the people, both Palestinians as well as Israelis, always the peoples,” he said. “I ask for a peaceful solution to this ancient and cruel conflict, I ask for the return of all the hostages to their places and in my particular case I ask for the return of my nephew Rony Sherman, for the love that unites us as a family and for the universal love that must never die,” he added.
In addition to Sherman, the remains of soldier Nik Beizer, of the same age, and French-Israeli Elya Toledano, 28, were also recovered. The latter was kidnapped during the attack on a party being held in the desert, where around 360 people were murdered. She had gone with her French-Israeli friend Mia Shem, who was freed during the brief truce agreed between Israel and Hamas in late November.
Killed by mistake
On the other hand, Israeli troops admitted that they mistakenly killed three of the people kidnapped by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “During the fighting in Shujaiya, the Israel Defense Forces mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result, troops shot at and killed them,” said a military statement, which did not specify when the incident occurred.
The hostages were identified as Yotam Jaim, a 28-year-old musician, and Alon Lulu Shamriz, a 26-year-old computer science student, both kidnapped in the Kfar Aza kibbutz; as well as Samer Fuad al Talalka, a 25-year-old Israeli Bedouin citizen from Hura, who was taken captive in the family restaurant near the Nir Am kibbutz where he worked. Their bodies were taken to the Hatzvi center at the Shura military base, where most of the victims of the Islamist group’s attack have been recognized. “Representatives of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Police notified all their families,” the letter stressed.
The Army has been fighting intensely against Hamas for more than a week in Shujaiya, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Gaza City, considered one of the group’s strongholds and where Israel believes they are hiding several of the hostages they are holding. “This is an area where soldiers encountered many terrorists, including suicide bombers,” said IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, who described what happened as “a sad and painful event for which the Israeli Army is responsible.” “. He also mentioned that at the moment it is not clear whether the three hostages who were shot had managed to escape from their captivity or were directly abandoned by the militiamen who were holding them.
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he received the news with pain. “The entire State of Israel will be in mourning tonight. My heart goes out to the grieving families right now,” he said in a message posted on his social networks. “Even in this difficult night, we will bind our wounds, learn the lessons and continue with a supreme effort to return all our abductees home safely,” he added.
Those who remain captive
After announcing the recovery of all the bodies, Israel indicated that it considers another 20 hostages dead among the 132 still in the Palestinian territory. “Hamas currently has the bodies of twenty hostages, we know that they were murdered in captivity,” lamented Israeli Government spokesman Eylon Levy at a press conference.
Of the more than 200 kidnapped by Hamas in the attack that killed 1,200 people, 118 have been released so far: 86 Israelis and 24 of other nationalities. Among those held captive are 121 Israelis, eight Thais, one Nepalese, one Tanzanian and one French-Mexican, according to data from the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel. 113 are men and 19 women, including two minors and ten over 75 years of age.
Israel does not comment on possible negotiations to free them, while repeating that it will not stop until it brings them home, amid criticism from family members towards a Government that they believe can do more. Netanyahu, in turn, accuses that international organizations and humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross, whose president, Mirjana Spoljaric, is in Israeli territory after having been in the Gaza Strip, seem to have forgotten about them. For its part, the Islamist group warned last Sunday that no hostages will be released unless Israel agrees to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners.
Since Israel declared a state of war and began a military operation by land, air and sea in the Palestinian territory, almost 18,800 Palestinians have been killed – most of them women and children – and more than 50,800 injured, according to the latest balance sheet. provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health. Meanwhile, the Israeli Army reported in a statement the death in combat of three of its soldiers, which brings the number of casualties in its ranks to 119 since the beginning of its offensive.
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