By Joseph Campbell
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – With his wife and daughter presumed to be Hamas hostages in Gaza, where Israel is planning a ground offensive against Palestinian militants after a pounding bombardment, Moshe Leimberg can barely read or watch the news.
The 59-year-old has had no firm news about his wife Gabriela, daughter Mia, 17, or other relatives since Hamas fighters tore through security barriers to kill at least 1,400 civilians and soldiers in a massacre on Oct. 7 and take about 200 hostages.
Israel has retaliated with its most intensive ever air and artillery strikes on the tiny, crowded Palestinian enclave that Hamas-run authorities there say have killed more than 4,100 people.
The hardest part of Leimberg’s day is waking up each morning to realise they are no longer with him, he said.
“I want my family back. I want my daughter and I want my wife. I want my brother-in-law, and I want my sister-in-law and my sister-in-law’s life partner, and I want my dog back,” he said.
The last contact he had with them was during the morning of the attack, while they were staying with relatives at Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on a family trip he had decided to duck because he had flu.
Mia had phoned him when the rocket attacks began, fearing for his safety rather than hers. She and Gabriela were sheltering from the rockets with other relatives and she sent him a picture of their sleepy dog, saying it had calmed down.
“And I said ‘good’ and that was it. That was the last I heard from her,” said Leimberg, a patent examiner.
After days fearing the worst, the military told Leimberg the phones of his wife, daughter, and three other relatives were last traced to the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, and he believes they are all being held hostage there.
“I want to feel secure again, I want to feel safe again. I want to be able to wake up in the morning and not dread what’s coming,” he said.
Aware that hostages from some previous abductions had their heads shaved, something he believes would particularly upset Mia, Leimberg has decided to shave his too.
“If she comes back like that, I’ll be able to say to her, ‘Look, you know, we’re both in the same boat. We’ll regrow our hair together’,” he said.
(Reporting by Joseph Campbell; Editing by Angus McDowall and Hugh Lawson)
