From the Liveblog of
Sunday, October 8, 2023
IDF sets up situation room to figure out how many hostages Hamas took into Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces says it has established a situation room to focus on putting together accurate information regarding the Israeli hostages held by the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas gunmen took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive into Gaza after overrunning several military bases and communities.
Social media was filled with horrifying videos of men, women and children being carried into the Strip, many of them appearing to have been abused. There were also videos published of dead Israelis taken, including soldiers.
The head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, appoints Lior Carmeli, a general in reserves, to head the team.
The IDF says the team will compile a “situational picture” for locating the captives, both soldiers and civilians.” Amid all the complexity and uncertainty, it is necessary to issue reliable messages as quickly as possible.
“Some families have already received messages about their loved ones,” the IDF says.
Police and the IDF Home Front Command have also established a situation room to identify those killed in the attacks using DNA samples provided by families.
A long line of Israelis with missing relatives snaked outside a police station in central Israel to supply investigators with DNA samples and other means that could help identify their family members.
Writing on X, opposition chief Yair Lapid calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately appoint a coordinator for missing and captive Israelis “so that there will be someone to work with the families.”
An Egyptian official says Israel has sought help from Cairo to ensure the safety of the hostages, and that Egypt’s intelligence chief had contacted Hamas and the smaller but more radical Islamic Jihad group, which also took part in the incursion, to seek information. Egypt has often mediated between the two sides in the past.
The official says Palestinian leaders claimed that they don’t yet have a “full picture” of hostages, but said those who were brought into Gaza were taken to “secure locations” across the territory.
“It’s clear that they have a big number — several dozens,” says the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to brief media.
