Star Metro - Arbel and Judith, women hostages in Gaza limbo

Both were kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz, close to the Gaza border.

Hundreds of families were ripped apart when Hamas fighters streamed over the border into southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,140 people and taking some 250 hostages back to the Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials say 129 hostages remain in the besieged Palestinian territory, where the Israeli army's retaliatory assault has killed at least 18,800 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from the Hamas government in Gaza.

During a week-long truce last month, Hamas released dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, but several captives have also been found dead.

And on Friday the Israeli army said that three hostages were killed mistakenly by its troops.

Their relatives have had no news of them since, and hold out hope they are still alive.

- Arbel Yehud, 28 -

Family members described Arbel Yehud to AFP as gentle young woman with a magnetic smile.

Before she was taken hostage, she was brimming with plans for the future, they said.

She was captured at the same time as her brother Dovel, 35, and her partner Ariel Cunio, 26. All three lived on the Nir Oz kibbutz and their fate remains unknown.

Her father Yechi Yehud, 64, told AFP about his daughter from the living room of his modest home in Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv.

He described how Arbel worked in the kibbutz's education system before becoming a guide at the nearby GrooveTech centre dedicated to technology and space.

She would tell visitors about "the stars, and the universe... and the satellites," a topic that fascinated her, Yechi said.

Arbel and Ariel had been a couple for five years at the time they were captured.

"They just came back from a big tour in South America... they were very happy with a lot of plans for the future," Yechi said.

Yechi left the kibbutz in 2016 to stay with his wife Yael in Rishon LeZion in the house where he was born.

"Our children refused to leave the kibbutz. I tried sometimes to ask them to leave," he said.

Even before the October 7 attack, sirens warning of possible Hamas rocket fire were a frequent reminder of the threat from across the nearby border.

During last month's truce, Yechi expected his daughter to be among the dozens of women and children released.

"The emotional turmoil grew from the moment it didn't happen," he said.

"We are a strong and united family, we do our best to hold each other up, to stay calm, not collapse, not overreact, but this was a very hard breaking point. Very hard."

He put on a brave face but said he was worried about his daughter's treatment.

In Israel, there has been growing anger over accounts of rape and sexual violence carried out by Hamas fighters on October 7 and against hostages in Gaza -- accusations the militant group denies.

"I don't know what is going on with her, if she has been tortured, if she's been raped," Yechi said. "I fear the abuses she might face.

"She is such a delicate soul and maybe they are raping her. Those are my fears.

"As a father... I am crushed inside. From outside, maybe I'm speaking logically and appearing strong. But inside, I'm crushed."

- Judith Weinstein Haggai, 70 -

Relentless air strikes, fierce fighting on the ground and the conditions of their captivity pose a serious threat to the hostages in Gaza.

For many of their loved ones waiting at home without news, every passing day diminishes any hope of seeing them again.

"I want to believe she's alive but... I'm not sure," said Ahl Haggai, the son of Judith Weinstein Haggai.

His mother is thought to be the oldest woman remaining among the hostages. She went missing along with her husband Gad Haggai, 72, on October 7.

In a final phone call Judith told a paramedic the couple had been wounded, Ahl said. Her glasses were later found in the kibbutz.

"The only evidence we have... is a video of my dad on the back of a truck, laying down injured," Ahl said.

"We can't say if (today) he's dead or alive and we believe she was inside the truck, but we have no evidence for it."

Ahl is torn between hope and despair. He believes that if his mother was killed and left in Israel, her body would already have been recognised. "She's nowhere to be found," he said.

When describing his mother, he had to remind himself not to speak of her as if she was already dead.

"My mum was... is, my mum is, the most gentle human being I know, she's so sweet and kind and honest and loving," said Haggai, 35.

Judith was born in United States and grew up in Canada, he said. She visited Israel as a young woman and stayed after falling in love with Gai.

The couple led a "healthy life, they meditated, they took walks together, they rode their bicycles in the fields all the time," Ahl said.

"She didn't like the rocket alerts, the bombs, she didn't like the fact that two kilometres (little more than a mile) from her there are two million people that she can't be in contact with."

Judith worked as an English teacher for 30 years and used to help children with special educational needs.

"All the kids loved her," Ahl said. "She always managed to get to the hearts of the toughest kids," he added, speaking in the garden of his home in Amikam, northern Israel.

He described how his mother loved to make puppets to help the children study and express themselves.

"In the last two years she had been working in mindfulness with the kids, helping them go through the anxiety from the situation next to Gaza," he said.

"She's always curious, she's always learning something, she's always in the university studying," he said, adding that she was interested in everything from drawing to poetry.

When the first hostages were handed over during the truce, Ahl hoped his mother would be among them.

"I didn't bring my hopes too high... but still every day I had a tiny hope that I'll get the list and she will be in the list," he said.

"I wish I knew what has happened to her in their hands. But I imagine that if she did survive, then she can still keep the positive energy, positive thinking, positive hopes."

A.Rogen--SMC