The Israeli-Hamas war has seen a diplomatic break-through, with the two sides agreeing to a four-day pause as well as the release of hostages held by Hamas and prisoners held in Israel starting Friday. The deal could mean reuniting with loved ones for people in the Bay Area.
Berkeley resident Yael Nidam and her family have been fighting for the release of her sister-in-law Rimon Kirsht and Kirsht’s husband Yegev Buchshtab.
The pair lived with their rescue animals in a small agricultural town in Israel, just a couple of minutes from the Gaza border. Nidam told NBC Bay Area about the couple’s terrifying final communication with family.
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“She’s saying that she’s actually visually seeing people, armed terrorists, with weapons outside her house. They are going house by house, killing people,” Nidam said.
For more than a week, Nidam said the family didn’t hear from the couple. They had no idea if they were alive. She said the Israeli military finally confirmed Kirsht and Buchshtab were taken as hostages to Gaza. These days, she said she waits by her phone for any updates and uses her voice to put pressure on any leaders who might listen.
“We can’t wait until the moment, until the minute that we hug her and we hold her and we tell her that we love her and that we’ve been thinking about her all this time,” Nidam said.
She is hopeful that they will be reunited with Kirsht and Buchshtab, helping the couple start an animal shelter.
The Israeli government approved a deal Wednesday with Hamas that includes a four-day pause in fighting and the release of at least 50 women and children held hostage in Gaza of the about 240 abducted. The plan also includes the release of 150 Palestinians from Israeli jails, though Israel says no captive release will happen before Friday.
For Palestinians like Lara Kiswani, the executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, this is welcome news. But Kiswani doesn’t think the agreement goes far enough.
She worries about comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to continue the country’s military campaign in Gaza after the pause.
“We want our people to love, and we want to be able to see humanitarian relief enter Gaza, we want to be able to see the stopping of bombings, we want to be able to see our community actually thrive and that’s why we are very concerned and on edge about the fact that this is not a permanent cease fire,” Kiswani said.
She said until then, they will continue to push their local, state, and federal leaders while the families of hostages will fight until everyone who was taken is back home.
“We are literally being torn apart and I hope that this nightmare can be over and that all of these families are united with their loved ones,” Nidam said.
