The current war in the Middle East is sending shockwaves across the world as tensions continue to rise after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel.
A member of the group is said to have called the mom of one of those kidnapped to mock their family in what is a rather haunting sequence of events.
Tamar David received the harrowing phone call on Sunday (8 October) from an operative who seemingly obtained the phone numbers from one of her daughters, Hodia, 25, and Tair, 27.
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Family friend, Tal Hezekiah, has been speaking to the local news outlet Mako in recent hours, saying that he had to grab the phone from shocked mom.
"He called Hodia and Tair’s mother Tamar and laughed at the family," Hezekiah told the outlet.
"Then the terrorist laughed and said to me in broken Hebrew: ‘Do you want to marry her?’ And hung up."
The family friend has since passed details surrounding the call onto Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, with hope the daughters can be found.
"Since then he has not called his mother’s phone,” Hezekiah added.
One of the sisters is said to have called their dad as they fled gunfire at the Tribe of Nova music festival near Kibbutz Reim.
They told their father details surrounding Hamas' attack on the Jewish state, but shortly after, the women went missing and have not been heard from since.
Hezekiah told Mako: "They told their father that they were being shot at and one of them may have been injured. It’s not clear to us.
"There was a video that was uploaded on social media and in one of the segments we saw for a few seconds Hodia when she was kidnapped and held in the Gaza Strip.
"They were taken in a Jeep or vehicle along with several other young people who were kidnapped at the party."
At least 260 people are said to have died at the music festival, though it remains unclear how many people have been kidnapped by the Hamas group.
Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, levelling whole streets and killing at least 419 people according to the Palestinian Authority.
The US has its support to Israel, with President Joe Biden saying: "The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, and I made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we stand ready to offer all appropriate means of support to the Government and people of Israel."
Callum Jones