'Our lives stopped': Relatives plead for Israel hostages

Moran Betzer Tayar, wracked by anguish about the kidnapping of her nephew and his wife by Hamas fighters on October 7, summed up her feelings during a press conference: "On Saturday morning, our lives stopped."

The 54-year-old, speaking in Paris on Wednesday, is on a European tour with other relatives of hostages snatched by the Palestinian militant group during a raid that killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Israel's retaliation has so far killed more than 6,500 people, including 2,704 children, Hamas says.

The Islamists are still believed to be holding more than 200 hostages.

It is the plight of these people that Betzer Tayar -- who says she is "worried sick" and cannot eat -- and her compatriots are desperate to keep in the public eye.

She told a press conference organised by the Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) how her relatives were snatched from Kibbutz Nirim, where community members were reportedly besieged for nine hours in one of dozens of attacks staged on October 7.

- 'They got me' -

Two sisters -- Shani and May Yerushalmi -- joined Betzer Tayar to describe how their sister, Eden, was taken from the bar where she was working.

"She called us, screaming, saying that terrorists were shooting at them," said Shani Yerushalmi, describing the attack at a rave party where 270 people were killed.

Eden hid among bodies of her friends in a car, her sister said, before trying to use a bush as cover.

"She told us she could hear the terrorists coming," Shani Yerushalmi said. "We knew it was the last moment with her. Her last sentence was: Shani, they got me."

She played the screams of her sister, recorded on her phone, to the gathered journalists.

Another of the women on stage, Ofir Weinberg, described how her cousin Itay Svirsky was taken from Kibbutz Beeri, where Hamas fighters killed at least 100 people, according to Israeli authorities.

Messages began to pour into the family WhatsApp group on October 7 -- the calls for help and the progress of the attackers documented minute by minute.

"I can't even begin to describe the feeling you have when you feel like you're losing your family one by one," said Weinberg.

The families have had no news of their loved ones since the Hamas attack. The Israeli army has confirmed only that they are among the hostages taken to Gaza.

They are asking for the Red Cross to be allowed to visit their relatives to answer the most basic questions -- whether they are still alive, where they are, and whether they are hurt.

But political questions remain taboo.

Those caught in the middle of the tragedy decline to speculate on the best course of action for their loved ones: a ground invasion of Gaza or a ceasefire and negotiations.

"We're not representing the country... We don't tell Israel what to do," said Ofir Weinberg.

"I don't have the answers. I'm just a citizen."