'Don't take my sunshine away': Heartbroken family share video of two baby brothers abducted by Hamas

15 October 2023, 15:21

A family member has shared a heartbreaking video of her two baby cousins, Kfir and Ariel, after they were abducted by Hamas.

Yifat Zailer, 37, from Israel, said six relatives were taken by Hamas gunmen during an attack on the Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza Strip..

As well as nine-month-old Kfir and four-year-old Ariel, Ms Zailer's aunt Shiri Silberman-Bibas, 30, Shiri's 37-year-old husband Yarden and her parents, Yosi and Margit Silberman, also went missing.

Posting a video of her loved ones, Ms Zailer asked for people to share it around "so that it reaches every mother and father in the world who still thinks that this disaster that happened to us is justified".

The clip begins by showing the children having fun and laughing at the camera, with text reading: "This is my family."

Read more: 'I just hope that they're alive': Family distraught after harrowing footage emerges of mother and her babies abducted

Read more: Hamas wants a 'wider Arab-Israeli war', warns Foreign Secretary as UK makes 'every effort' to protect Britons

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by YIFAT ZAILER PAZ (@yifatzailer)

A montage then shows snippets of the children alongside their parents and grandparents before they were taken.

Ariel can be seen blowing out candles at his fourth birthday party and Kfir is seen falling asleep in his mother's arms.

At the end of the video, Ms Zailer said: "Don't let these by our last memories. Don't take my sunshine away."

She added in the caption: "I want you to hear Kfir's beautiful laughter and see Ariel's beautiful smile."

Ms Zailer's aunt, Shiri, was hiding in a safe room with her husband Yarden and the two children when Israel was attacked on Saturday.

Shiri's husband is understood to have text relatives "I love you all" as they sheltered away in their home while Hamas fired semi-automatic weapons outside.

Half an hour later, communication stopped after he said: "They're coming in."

The family of four has not been heard from since, and Shiri's parents - Yosi and Margit, who has Parkinson's and needs daily medication - are also missing and feared abducted.

Onlookers could be heard screaming: "She has a baby."

Ms Zailer previously said that she will not rest until her relatives are returned home. 

"I just hope that they are alive, and that they are together," she told the New York Times. "And I want them home, with me, so I can hug them tightly again."

She added: "We feel that those responsible don't know what to do, because this is a situation we've never been in before. That's the feeling in Israel.

"It's a catastrophe."