UK-Israeli relatives of those abducted to Gaza in London plea: ‘Hamas has shown us they have no mercy’

The London-based family members of some of those kidnapped and taken to Gaza give a press conference in London, pleading for help in securing their release.

“I am one of your own,” says Noam Sagi, whose elderly mother was taken. “On Saturday morning in Kibbutz Nir Oz they woke up to a massacre. They were burned, butchered, slaughtered and kidnapped. Young kids and old people.”

“They burned the place to the ground, shot the dogs, nothing is left,” he said. “There is no politics here, no context, no religon, no race. Simple humanity,” he says.

“People who survived the Holocaust found themselves facing another one,” Sagi says. “One of the hostages was on the Kindertransport.”

Sagi called on the media to “call Hamas for what they are” and says news outlets are being “manipulated” by the terror group.

Sagi also says he wants to thank the people of Britain and the British government for their support.

Sharon Livshitz, whose elderly parents were taken, says, “The senseless destruction took so much from me and my community.”

“I feel hollow for the past few days, but I feel like we are strong. Together we are facing this thing, an act of such barbarity that it is coaxing us into hate and rage and wanting to destroy,” she says.

“These are the children that we all know, and I am here to be a voice on their behalf,” she says.

“I am here because there is work to do. There are hostages in Gaza, my mum was disconnected from her oxygen and loaded onto a motorbike,” she says.

“My father spent his life fighting for peace. We are all his children when we ask for peace,” she says.

“I am not here for politics. I do not have the luxury of that. We need to act together to fight the hatred and say no to the massacre and destruction,” she says.

“I don’t accept butchery from Boko Haram, Islamic State or from our neighbors, Hamas,” she says. “They have shown us that they have no mercy.”

Through tears, she explains that her neighbor’s daughter is autistic and will not be coping in Gaza.

“I want her out,” she says. “The children and elderly must come home.”