Facing the Senate, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announced on Wednesday that Paris had no news of 18 French people, including children “probably kidnapped”.
The attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 also affected French nationals. The abuses killed at least 10 people of nationality, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Furthermore, it is likely that children are among the hundred people taken hostage.
Before the elected representatives of the Senate, Wednesday October 11, the Prime Minister indicated that among the French people who disappeared on October 7 in the south of Israel were “several children, probably kidnapped” by Hamas. “We are in constant contact with the families,” she assured, addressing “all (her) thoughts to the French community in Israel, which lives in anguish”.
For the moment, little information concerning the identity or even the exact number of French children kidnapped in Israel has been communicated. Only Eitan’s case came out in the media. This is the first minor whose disappearance the Quai d’Orsay announced on Monday, referring to “a minor child of 12 years old”. The young man was in the Nir Oz kibbutz, located in the south of Israel, during the Hamas attack on Saturday October 7. Hiding with his family in a shelter, they were finally spotted and taken hostage. While they were being loaded on motorbikes, Israeli tanks reportedly arrived on site. His mother and two sisters then managed to escape, while Eitan was kidnapped. Trace of his father was also lost at this time.
Hamas threatens to kill hostages
The Prime Minister added: “Since Saturday, new monstrosities committed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists have been discovered. In addition to rocket fire, kidnappings including of elderly people and children, there has been a series of massacres. during a festival in eastern Gaza or in the kibbutzim of Beeri and Kfar Aza. Horror is the only word that can describe these terrorist attacks and our support must be total.”
Hamas threatened to kill the hostages as soon as an unannounced airstrike by Israel took place on Gaza. The Israeli government’s line is not to negotiate with Hamas.