'I just hope that they're alive': Family distraught after harrowing footage emerges of mother and her babies abducted

10 October 2023, 06:51 | Updated: 10 October 2023, 06:53

Harrowing footage has emerged showing a mother clutching her two children as they were abducted by Hamas.

Shiri Silberman-Bibas, 30, was hiding in a safe room with her husband Yarden and their two children - nine-month-old Kfir and three-year-old Ariel - when Israel was attacked on Saturday.

Shiri's husband is understood to have text relatives "I love you all" as they sheltered away in their home while Hamas fired semi-automatic weapons outside.

Half an hour later, communication stopped after he said: "They're coming in."

The family of four has not been heard from since, and Shiri's parents - Yosi and Margit, who has Parkinson's and needs daily medication - are also missing and feared abducted. 

Harrowing footage later emerged showing Shiri clutching her two children as they were kidnapped. There was no sign of her husband.

Onlookers could be heard screaming: "She has a baby."

Warning: Footage on link contains upsetting footage. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Shiri's cousin said his family's disappearance made him "want to go and fight".

"The first time I saw the pictures I couldn't believe it," he told Sky. "I couldn't comprehend what I saw, then I look at another picture and it was very clear that this is my cousin Shiri and the two little children."

He added: "My fear's that they separated them, that they separated them, that they killed them, that they're injured, that we wont see them again, that we won't even get any piece of information with them and we will stay in this blank forever."

Meanwhile, Shiri's niece Yifat Zailer said that she will not rest until her relatives are returned home. 

"I just hope that they are alive, and that they are together," she told the New York Times. "And I want them home, with me, so I can hug them tightly again."

She added: "We feel that those responsible don't know what to do, because this is a situation we've never been in before. That's the feeling in Israel.

"It's a catastrophe."

Around 150 Israelis are believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas.

Gunmen are said to have gone door-to-door, rounding up whole families as they sheltered from rockets.

Hamas said it will begin executing hostages and "posting footage online" if Israel bombs civilian houses in Gaza "without pre-warning".

Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will use "enormous force" against Hamas, as he warned retaliation for Saturday's surprise attack on his county was "only just beginning".