"I saw the video of Hamas people taking away my 12-year-old brother. Is he even alive?" asked a 21-year-old Israeli woman whose father, younger sister, cousin and grandmother went missing after Hamas militants attacked their hometown kibbutz on Saturday.
Gaya Kalderon woke up at 6 a.m. Saturday to the sound of sirens buzzing all around Tel Aviv. She said she called her family in the small town of Nir Oz to find out if they were OK.
"When I called my mother and father, everything was fine. My father, younger sister and younger brother had gone to a safe place, as mother and elder brother were in their separate house," Kalderon told VOA Urdu while speaking from Tel Aviv.
Nir Oz is one of the many sleepy rural areas of kibbutzim, small farming enclaves, that bore the brunt of the Hamas militants’ ground assault on Saturday.
"But then a message came from my younger sister saying that she was hearing gunshots nearby and she was scared, before disappearing in a few seconds," Kalderon said.
She said at the same time, she began calling her grandmother, who along with a cousin with special needs, lived around the same area.
Kalderon said her grandmother told her that Hamas fighters were in her house, throwing things away. Then her grandmother stopped responding.
Her mother and elder brother are safe, but her father, younger sister, brother, cousin and grandmother are still missing.
Kalderon begged, "Please bring my family. I need help. I don’t want anything else."
At least 150 hostages, including children, women and elderly people seized by Hamas gunmen from southern Israel last Saturday are now being held at secret locations inside Gaza. Their future is unknown.
At 8 a.m. Saturday, Osher Sitton and three friends managed to reach a safe house in southern Israel after escaping Hamas gunmen’s attack on the Nova music festival.
"I thought it was my last day, as gunshots started coming from a close range. I didn’t tell my parents about going to the party, and I thought to myself, 'OK, this is it,'" said 22-year-old Sitton, speaking to VOA Urdu from the city of Shoham.
He said, "Every momentary sound, loud or quiet, makes me rattle fearfully, like the gunshots and rockets from Saturday morning. Now, I’m afraid to sleep alone at night, like a 10-year-old."
At least 1,300 people have died in Israel because of the Hamas militant attacks, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said in an update Wednesday.
A campaign of Israeli airstrikes that began hours after Saturday’s incursion has killed 1,500 people in Gaza.
The United Nations said nearly 340,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Gaza, with more than two-thirds of them taking shelter in U.N. schools.
"Every hour, every minute, every moment, we hear explosions coming from the air, land and sea. We were forced to leave the house to seek shelter at a safe place for the third time," said a young Palestinian artist speaking to VOA Urdu from Gaza.
Another resident said the streets of West Gaza are unrecognizable after Israel’s recent strikes.
A 22-year-old Palestinian woman, Plestia Alaqad, told VOA Urdu from West Gaza, "It’s hard to breathe. The sky is dark day and night because of the gunpowder. I have been living in Gaza all my life, and right now, I don’t recognize the streets."
She said, "The number of wounded people, the number of injuries and the number of martyrs, is so crazy. It's just crazy. Water, electricity, food, all necessities are running out."
The International Committee of the Red Cross warned Thursday that hospitals in Gaza are at risk of turning into morgues without electricity as they lose power during Israel's bombardment of the enclave.
Gaza's only power plant ran out of fuel Wednesday, and backup generators could stop working in hours, ICRC said in a statement.
Medical centers have been overwhelmed after Israel imposed a "complete siege" on Gaza and pounded the territory with air and artillery strikes.
Israel said it will not restore electricity or allow basic resources and humanitarian aid into Gaza until Hamas releases the 150 hostages it abducted during Saturday’s attacks.
