Grandfather of 3-year-old hostage Avigayil Idan: She doesn’t know she’s an orphan

Carmel Idan, the grandfather of 3-year-old Avigayil Idan, who is being held captive in Gaza after her parents were both murdered by Hamas, says he is worried about the trauma his granddaughter will experience amid her expected return to Israel.

“I don’t know how [she’ll be] when she comes back,” Idan tells Kan public radio. “When she comes back, she won’t know she’s an orphan.”

He adds that he is worried if Avigayil “sees an [Israeli] soldier, she’ll be afraid… she might be afraid they’re moving her to another place, she might think they’re Hamas members,” he says, asking that a family member be there to greet her instead of an IDF soldier.

Idan says that Avigayil’s 9-year-old brother, Michael, who saw his parents murdered, does not communicate.

US officials said yesterday that Idan, a dual US-Israeli citizen, is slated to be released under the nascent hostage deal.