The Hungarian weekly Hetek interviewed Osnat Weiss, a Hungarian-Israeli woman whose 18-year-old Hungarian-Israeli niece and her mother were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7. In the exclusive interview, the woman said that she was first in contact with her niece's mother at the time of the Hamas attack, who told her on the phone that there were terrorist all over the kibbutz where they lived. When they got cut off, Osnat texted her 18-year-old niece Noga, who wrote that the gunmen had broken into their home and that she was hiding under the bed.
They are still here, they've set fire to the house,
she texted her aunt.
Two of her sisters, hiding in another place, survived the attack. They were in contact with their sister, and later said that Noga couldn't breathe because of the smoke and had to make an escape from the house through the window. But when outside, the terrorists spotted her and took her hostage, just like her mother, Shiri.
The father, Ilan, also a Hungarian-Israeli dual national, has been listed as missing. He left home the same morning because neighbors asked for his help. He hasn't been seen since.
Osnat said her other brother, Amir, and his wife were killed by terrorists while hiding in the safe room in their home. The jihadists threw a hand grenade into the room, injuring them both. Before they died, they had the strength to say goodbye to surviving family members who lived in the same kibbutz.
The aunt, Osnat, told Hetek that it was just luck that she decided at the last minute not to visit her brother for the holiday. Had they traveled there, she and her children could also have fallen victim to Hamas terror. The terrorist burnt to the ground the house where they were supposed to stay.
Osnat also used the interview as an opportunity to thank the Hungarian ambassador and embassy staff in Israel for treating her like a family member from the very first moment and for giving them all the help and support they needed.
Cover photo: Following the October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, an Israeli woman in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Gaza Strip, salvages belongings from a damaged house on October 27, 2023 (Photo: MTI/AP/Maya Alleruzzo)
