"I thought - this is the end. I held my daughter to me and told her: I'm sorry honey, we're going to die now. But what does a five-year-old girl know about death?" Daniel Aloni, 40, told German public broadcaster ARD how a year ago she and her family were attacked by Hamas terrorists while their house was burning. Everyone was shocked and asked themselves: "We are in Israel, aren't we? Do we have the strongest military in the Middle East? How likely is it that hostages will be taken here?".
Hope for a salvation that does not come
In the morning hours of October 7, 2023, sirens sounded in southern Israel - warning of a rocket attack. Daniel Aloni sought refuge in the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel - along with his five-year-old daughter and his sister's family. However, this attack is somehow different from the others - it is much louder, Aloni recalls.
A little while later, she gets a message on her cell phone. He learns that Hamas terrorists have entered the kibbutz. Only one door separates them from the attackers, which cannot even be locked, reports ARD.
The terrorists did not enter the house, but set it on fire. The family stands in the dark, the electricity is off. "I remember being very afraid. "I started shaking," the woman told the German public-law media. Aloni, her sister and her husband kept dialing 911 on the phone - hoping the army would finally come and rescue them. But no one came.
Aloni briefly loses consciousness. But when he recovers, they decide together: better to get out of the burning house and die quickly under the bullets than painfully in the smoke and flames inside. When they got outside, Hamas fighters loaded them into jeeps and drove off. Only later did Aloni find out that they were taken to Gaza.
On that day, terrorists massacred over 1,200 people in the southern part of Israel. They rape women, rob and set fire to houses. And they take 240 hostages and take them to Gaza.
The family is divided
The jeep with the hostages arrived in some town, maybe Khan Yunis, Aloni isn't sure where exactly. Crowds of people were waiting there. The terrorists hit her on the head and back. And a kidnapped Israeli soldier died at her feet. The children had to wade through the pool of blood that drained from his body. The inhabitants of the city rejoiced at the sight of the brought hostages and took pictures.
Aloni's family was separated, she and her daughter were taken to a tunnel through which they walked for hours underground. Finally they reached a room with bars. There were other people there, some of whom were wounded and bound. "This is how I first realized that we are not the only ones,", the woman says.
They spent the next weeks in the tunnels. For just a few days they were in a dwelling above ground: a windowless room full of cockroaches. With each of the bombings in Gaza, however, they were returned underground in the dark - meanwhile, the Israeli army began its airstrikes against Hamas.
"I cried out to our prime minister - I wanted him to free us"
While they are in captivity, Daniel Aloni starves, gives his daughter and his food. He tries to smile from time to time and calls the Hamas fighters "nice people" in front of the child. "When you're a mother, you gain powers you didn't know you had. You say to yourself - I will do everything in my power to make my daughter feel as good as possible."
Two weeks later, however, Aloni couldn't take it anymore. "I ran out of air. I started screaming and crying," she says. The other hostages tend to her daughter, at which point Aloni herself loses faith that she will survive.
In early November, Hamas released a propaganda video showing three women, one of whom is Daniel Aloni. A Hamas commander gave her notes on what to say. She told ARD that they did not force her to participate in the recording. "In the video, you could see what my state of mind was - it was authentic. I called out to our prime minister - I called on him to release us," the woman says.
Freedom after 49 days of captivity
At the end of November, her dream finally came true - she and her daughter were released after 49 days in captivity. Israel agrees to a several-day truce and the return of 105 hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners. Her sister and the twins were also released.
Daniel Aloni describes it as a great happiness - to have your freedom back. But the pain remains - her sister's husband is not returning with them to Israel, he is still in Gaza.
During the fighting in Gaza, the Israeli army managed to free only part of the hostages. And today, a year later, 105 people are still in captivity of Hamas, and nothing is known about their condition, notes ARD. A month ago, six people were found dead.
"How many more must they die?"
Relatives are pushing for a new agreement to allow the remaining hostages to return home. They are putting pressure on the Netanyahu government, protesting in the streets week after week. Posters with photos of the kidnapped hang on many facades, on the beach, in cafes, at the airport. Many people wear yellow ribbons as a sign of solidarity.
Mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have been trying in vain for months to negotiate a hostage deal with Hamas. Recently, negotiations seemed to have reached a complete standstill. Meanwhile, many doubt those in charge want a deal at all. And now, with Israel's fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran's shelling, attention is shifting.
Families and friends of the abductees know that as time passes, the chances of survival for the captured Israelis become smaller and smaller. "I'm afraid that every next day another hostage could die," says Daniel Aloni. At that moment, her voice trembled - for the first time in the conversation with ARD. A few tears fall from her eyes. "How many more must they die?"
Author: Anne Armbrecht (ARD)