Woman abducted to Gaza on Oct. 7 has likely given birth in captivity — officials
IDF notifies family of captured soldier that Hamas aired video of her; missing Canadian-born peace activist confirmed to have been killed in massacres.
(THE TIMES OF ISRAEL) Israeli officials on Monday cleared for publication that one of the hostages kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught has likely given birth in captivity.
The woman, who had been in her ninth month of pregnancy, was presumed to have given birth based on the time that has passed since, and not based on concrete information, the officials stressed.
The woman is one of at least 240 hostages seized during the devastating Hamas-led attack on southern Israel last month, in which Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people. Israel declared war on Hamas in response, launching a major military offensive aimed at toppling the Gaza-ruling terror organization and securing the release of the hostages.
Also Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said it sent representatives to the family of Noa Marciano, who is being held in Gaza by Hamas, after the terror group published a video of her.
“Our hearts go out to the Marciano family, whose daughter, Noa, was brutally kidnapped by the Hamas terror organization,” the IDF said in a statement.
The military vowed to continue to accompany the Marciano family, as well as the families of the other hostages.
“We are working with all means, intelligence and operational, in order to return the hostages home,” the IDF said.
It said an IDF representative went to Noa Marciano’s home to inform them of the Hamas video.
“Hamas continues to use psychological terror and behaves inhumanely, through videos and photos of hostages, as it has done in the past,” the IDF added.
Meanwhile, forensic examiners identified the remains of peace activist Vivian Silver, confirming she was killed during the October 7 attack.
The Canadian-born Silver, 74, had been listed as missing since her house in Kibbutz Be’eri was attacked last month. One of her sons said the two were texting as she hid in a closet at home, telling him a massacre was taking place.
“‘She wrote me, ‘They’re inside the house, it’s time to stop joking and say goodbye,’” Yonatan Zeigen recalled to the BBC.
“‘And I wrote back that ‘I love you, Mum. I have no words, I’m with you.’” Viven responded, “I feel you.”
That was the last message, according to Zeigen.
Silver was known for her peace activism, including her involvement in the organization called Women Wage Peace, as well as The Road to Recovery, driving sick Palestinians from Gaza to Israeli hospitals.
She held a meeting of international supporters of Women Wage Peace just a few days before the Hamas atrocities.
Zeigen said that his mother would not be completely surprised by the Hamas massacre that took place.
He told the BBC that she would say that this is the outcome of war. “Of not striving for peace, and this is what happens,” he said.
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