The Israel Police and the IDF Home Front Command issued a message Saturday night to relatives of those missing in the aftermath of a huge surprise assault by Gazan terrorists, asking them to bring in DNA samples from their loved ones in order to identify those who have been killed.
The authorities told family members to go to police stations to file reports with “identification details, an item from which DNA can be extracted, and a photo of the missing person.”
Family members who find themselves in areas under assault were advised to phone a police hotline by dialing 105.
Gazan terrorists launched thousands of rockets and sent gunmen into Israeli communities by land, sea and air, killing at least 300 people and injuring over 1,500. Hamas claimed to have abducted dozens of Israelis to Gaza; the IDF has confirmed that soldiers and civilians have been taken hostage but has not specified a number.
Several families and friends took to social media and spoke to media outlets begging for information about their loved ones whom they have not been able to contact.
Some claimed to have already identified people they know in videos on social media of hostages in Gaza.
Hundreds flee gunmen at a Nature Party near Kibbutz Re’im, October 7, 2023. (Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
Yoni Asher told Kan radio he feared his wife, who was with her mother and two daughters, aged 3 and 5, in Kibbutz Nir Oz, had been kidnapped.
He said he had logged onto his laptop to track his wife’s cellphone, which popped up in the southern Gazan town of Khan Younis.
“I fear that she has been kidnapped,” he said and recited his phone number so listeners could contact him if they had information.
Moshe Or told news outlets that he had identified his brother Avinatan, and Avinatan’s girlfriend Noa Argamani, in a video published on Telegram showing the two being led by terrorists to Gaza.
“I was worried and tried to call them, but his phone was not available and neither was hers. After a few hours, emergency services contacted us and told us that they saw a video of my brother and his girlfriend Noa taken hostage towards the Strip,” he said.
Israeli Noa Argamani is seen being kidnapped by Hamas terrorist in the south on October 7, 2023. (Screenshot used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)
Among some of the major areas of concern was an all-night nature rave near Kibbutz Re’im, where an unknown number of young Israelis were massacred by Hamas terrorists, and Kibbutz Be’eri, where terrorists were holding some residents hostage in the dining hall — though media reports said early Sunday morning that most or all of the Be’eri hostages had been rescued, with the terrorists killed.
The border town of Netiv Ha’asara reported at least 15 of its residents were killed in a massacre.
A police officer stands along a debris-strewn street in Tel Aviv, after a strike by a rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
As midnight Saturday passed, more than 18 hours after the coordinated assault began, Israeli security forces were still struggling to clear out terrorist cells entrenched within devastated communities. Civilians were still holed up in their homes, hiding in fear of roving terrorists searching for victims, as troops faced off with hostage-takers in some cases and stormed homes in others, shooting dead the gunmen within.
Meanwhile, a continuous stream of Palestinian photos and videos flooded social media depicting scenes of carnage from within the towns as well as harrowing footage of frightened men, women and children dragged from their homes to an uncertain fate in Gaza.
Concurrently, barrages of rockets continued to rain down on southern and central Israel, regularly sending hundreds of thousands of people running to shelters. Several people were wounded by rockets that evaded the Iron Dome defense system and smashed into towns. Some were seriously hurt.
The scenes of chaos and suffering and the prolonged failure to gain control of the situation shocked and outraged the nation, and sparked pointed questions and demands for answers on the many failures of intelligence, deployment and policy that had enabled such a national catastrophe, with hundreds of terrorists flooding civilian communities in armed convoys.
At the same time, Israel was in the preliminary stages of a military response its leaders vowed would be unprecedented, with the army carrying out strikes on terror targets across the Strip throughout the day. Gaza health officials said at least 230 were killed there, with hundreds wounded.
The army said four divisions of reservists were being deployed to the Gaza border, joining 35 battalions that were already there.
