Fear, frustration for Israeli family as 7 believed to be held by Hamas

Jerusalem - As Israel prepares for an expected full-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, the families of the nearly 200 hostages believed to be held by the group are organizing to try to save their loved ones - and their frustration is mounting. 

For nine full days, 86-year-old Chanon Cohen heard nothing from Israeli officials about the seven members of his extended family taken during Hamas militants' bloody rampage across southern Israel.

"We didn't hear from anything. The only things that we know are from the pictures from the Hamas," he told CBS News. "We saw them the last time on their way to Gaza."

Cohen is one of the founding members of Nir Oz, an Israeli community right near the Gaza border. More than 50 people from Nir Oz are missing and believed to have been kidnapped, including Cohen's sister, Margalit Moses, who can be seen in a video clip being taken away by Hamas militants. 

She has health problems that require almost constant medical care.

"I'm so worried," said Cohen. "I'm weeping on the inside. Because I know that weeping is good, healthy. But outside, I play the strong one."

Cohen has dual Israeli-German citizenship, and he and his daughter Efrat told CBS News that in the absence of almost any communication from Israeli authorities, the only official support they've received is from the German embassy.

"It feels that they give us energy to continue… the directions that we so much in need for, and they treat us so equally and in such a humane way," Efrat said, adding that her family just wasn't getting that kind of support from Israeli authorities, at least "not yet."

Hundreds of family members of hostages and those missing in Israel organized almost immediately after Hamas launched its attack on Oct. 7 to pressure their government to act and to save their loved ones.

Officials from the U.S. and other governments met with the families before their own Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did.

The building frustration has led the families to protest outside Israel's Ministry of Defense and to demand that humanitarian and medical aid be made available to the hostages inside Gaza, which has been completely sealed off since the Hamas attack by an Israeli blockade.

"I did not think this is going to be the way things would go," Efrat said, adding that there was "something very wrong" with the Israeli government's response to the hostage crisis.

"Nobody knows where they are. Nobody knows who, who took them. Nobody knows how are they doing. I cannot describe the worry," she told CBS News. 

She said it was taking all her effort not to be overwhelmed by grief and fear, so she can continue doing everything in her power to ensure the plight of her loved ones remains front and center in the minds of the people in power.

"We first want to know they're okay. We then want to know they have the medicine, and then we want them home – alive," said Efrat. "We want them home alive."

In:
• Hostage Situation
• Hamas
• Israel

Haley Ott

Haley Ott is an international reporter for CBS News based in London.

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