Elkanah was not far from the Gaza Strip at the Nova festival on Saturday, when terrorists suddenly sowed death and destruction. “When we heard that terrorists were attacking festival goers, we called Elkana and he told our mother he was okay and was trying to help other people flee,” Uriel said.
A little later, a friend sent him the shocking video that can be seen on Hamas’ Telegram channel. “I immediately recognized him by his blond hair and said, ‘Oh my God! They have my brother’.”
Elkana, a married father, owns an ice cream parlor in Tel Aviv. “I know my brother inside and out and he would never leave anyone behind – and I think that’s why they were able to capture him in the end,” said the 31-year-old man who lives in the United States and saw the images in San Francisco .
We are scared and our mother is completely broken
“I want to show the world his face. I want to take him home,” Uriel explains. “We are scared and our mother is completely broken. But Elkanah is strong and I know he will be patient and believe the world is watching.”
His brother Jacob (35) is also in sackcloth and ashes and waits anxiously: “Our mother is crying in bed and holding his shirt. We are going crazy with grief.”
Uriel took the first plane to Jerusalem to join his family.