Ella Ben Ami has the same nightmare almost every night: her mother, kidnapped by Hamas from kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel, is lying on the ground, her hands bound, without water or food.
“Since October 7, it’s been like a single day that never ends. I have never felt such a feeling of helplessness,” the 23-year-old, whose father was also kidnapped, told AFP.
“I’ve lived like the living-dead ever since,” Ben Ami said, gazing into the distance on a hotel terrace, where she and about 900 other Beeri residents have been evacuated.
Barricaded in a safe room with her boyfriend for 18 hours, she helplessly received first-hand updates on her phone from her father as her parents were abducted.
The management of the kibbutz has been able to identify 85 of those killed in Beeri, while 32 were unaccounted for, including presumed hostages.
