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The release of four hostages by Hamas has ignited hope for Israeli families that some of their relatives who were taken captive are alive.
Each day, Israeli mother Hadas Kalderon relives the nightmare of her two young children, elderly mother, niece and ex-husband being abducted by Hamas militants on October 7.
Ms Kalderon’s children Erez, 11, Sahar, 16, mother Carmella Dan, 80, ex-husband Ofer Kalderon, 53, and niece Noya Dan, 12, were among more than 200 Israelis abducted.
Israeli authorities later announced that Carmella and Noya Dan had been found dead.
Hamas released two elderly Israeli women late on Monday for humanitarian reasons, days after freeing an American woman and her teenage daughter.
And Ms Kalderon, a French-Israeli citizen, still holds on to hope that the hostage releases are a sign that some of her family will survive their capture.
She maintains that peace is the only way forward.
“We are very happy about the hostages being released,” Ms Kalderon told The National from Tel Aviv. “It gives us hope. It means they are still alive.”
On Thursday, the family released a series of posts on Facebook to celebrate Erez's 12th birthday with a virtual cycling event, while marking the death of his grandmother Carmella and cousin Noya.
“I believe in peace, my mother always believed in peace,” Ms Kalderon said.
“The only way to get solutions is to keep negotiations open.
“It is terrifying what they [Hamas] did. But this is not just about my family and our tragedy.
“The hostages are alive and Hamas has an opportunity to show the world they are human, they still have a heart, by releasing all the hostages.”
The October 7 attacks struck Israeli communities and a music festival near the Gaza border, as well as several military sites.
Since the shock attack into southern Israel that killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, Israeli retaliatory bombardments have killed more than 7,000 in Gaza, mostly children and women, and displaced one million.
'Mum be quiet'
When Hamas breached the Gaza fence, Ms Kalderon was alone in her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and heard the spray of bullets draw closer.
For hours as she hid in the safe room, Ms Kalderon messaged her children who were in her ex-husband’s house in the same kibbutz.
Carmella, her mother, also lived near by and was sheltering in her own home with granddaughter Noya.
The last message Ms Kalderon received was after her former partner and children escaped from the house as Hamas fighters entered his home.
She weeps as she reads a final message sent by her young son asking her to be careful.
“Our houses were being burnt and I got a message from my ex-husband – ‘We have a terrorist inside our house, we have jumped out of the window,’" she recalled.
“My son wrote to me, ‘Mum be quiet, don’t move.’ He was worried about me even when he was hiding in the bushes.”
More than eight hours later, when the Israeli army reached the kibbutz to take the residents to safety, she realised that most of her family were missing.
Her young son was spotted by a relative in the back of a vehicle in videos later released by Hamas.
“I know he is alive, I have hope but I can’t see the movie,” she said.
“I can’t imagine what he is feeling, what they are going through.”
Her home and hundreds of others in the kibbutz were torched by Hamas and she is now staying with friends.
Her appeal is for more countries to get involved in freeing the hostages.
“We can’t sleep and we can’t eat,” said Ms Kalderon, who took care of the elderly in the kibbutz.
“We just pray and ask to bring the kidnapped back home.
“I’m begging all the Arab countries to help. We are asking the whole world to scream with us so all the hostages come home."
