Their frustration is evident in places like Tel Aviv, where missing persons posters were displayed on the walls of the Israeli government and military center during a protest on Saturday.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said Monday that 199 families had been notified that their relatives were among those abducted, up from 155 a day earlier. Netanyahu met with some of those relatives on Sunday, after families expressed frustration with what they said was a lack of communication from his government.
Israeli officials say they are also still working to identify all of the dead, some of whom were injured beyond recognition. As of Monday, 1,400 people had been killed and 3,500 wounded in Israel, while more than 2,750 people had been killed and 9,700 wounded in Gaza.
On Monday, Fishbien said he had learned that his sister’s boyfriend had been found dead. He said he has not given up hope for his sister, even if it is unclear where she fits in the official numbers.
Though he understands the difficulties of providing clarity “from a bureaucratic and formal point of view,” Fishbien said, the lack of certainty for families like his is “not right.”
Asked to clarify who is included in the official abduction count and how many people are missing but not confirmed to have been abducted, an IDF spokesperson declined to comment on Monday. The Israeli government’s press office did not respond to multiple requests for comment sent Sunday evening and Monday morning.
‘They didn’t evaporate’
Jonathan Dekel-Chen — whose son Sagui Dekel-Chen, a 35-year-old father of two who is also an American citizen, has been missing since Oct. 7 — said he doesn’t care what the official numbers of those taken hostage are or how they are determined.
“Whatever the Israeli government says or doesn’t say, I know that my son, like dozens of other people from my kibbutz, have been taken hostage by Hamas,” he said. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind.”
Dekel-Chen’s southern Israel kibbutz, Nir Oz, was the site of a brutal massacre by Hamas terrorists, who murdered or abducted scores of residents. But his son’s body and those of others have not been recovered.
“They didn’t evaporate,” he said. “They’re being held by Hamas.”
Dekel-Chen was among the family members of Americans believed to be held hostage who spoke with President Joe Biden on a video call last week. Biden said he would do “everything possible to return every missing American to their families,” and that U.S. officials were working “around the clock” to try to secure the release of Americans held hostage.
There were no updates on his son’s case during the call, Dekel-Chen said, and he has not received any updates from the Israeli government.
Ido Nagar is still holding out hope that his wife, Celine Ben David Nagar, 32, is alive. She went missing on Oct. 7 after driving into southern Israel from their home in Holon, just south of Tel Aviv, and her car was found with bullet holes, smashed windows and blood on the outside.
Asked whether Israeli officials considered her to have been taken hostage, Ido Nagar, 33, said Monday afternoon that he was still waiting for an update.
“They can’t tell yet,” he said. “They don’t know.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
