Hungary/Israel – Although Central Europe is a long way from the Middle East, Hungary – like other European countries – has found itself indirectly and involuntarily involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, insofar as there are some Hungarian citizens among the 239 hostages captured by Hamas in southern Israel during the massacre committed there by this Palestinian terrorist movement on 7 October.

As reported in the Hungarian press on 26 October, the two daughters of an Israeli woman of Hungarian origin have been kidnapped by Hamas and are reportedly being held hostage in the Gaza Strip. The territory is currently under constant bombardment by the Israeli air force, as the government in Jerusalem has decided to eradicate this terrorist movement by any means necessary.

Both girls were staying with their father in a kibbutz near the Gaza strip

In an interview with the weekly magazine Hétek, Majan Zin, the mother of the two teenagers, Ella and Dafna, aged eight and fifteen respectively, who is herself an Israeli-Hungarian citizen, said that her children were kidnapped from the kibbutz Naha Oz situated on the border with the Gaza Strip during the terrorist attack, as they were staying with her ex-husband: „I saw [photos of] Dafna sitting on a mattress, and in Arabic it was written on the photo that Dafna was ready for prayers; she was dressed in prayer clothes.”

The father and his wife were killed by the terrorists

Later, she received a live video broadcast taken by the terrorists with her daughter’s phone while she was still at the kibbutz, after their house was stormed by Hamas members. That video also shows her ex-husband, Noam Eliakim, being shot in the leg. Afterwards the terrorists also killed him together with his new wife. The terrorists then used another member of the family, Tomer, aged 17, to get neighbours to open their door so that they could be shot dead too. Afterwards, the young man was then also murdered.

The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in contact with the Israeli authorities

For its part, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the two Hungarian girls had indeed been kidnapped by Hamas. The Ministry spokesman Máté Paczolay said: „We are in constant contact with the mother and with the special working group set up by the Israeli authorities. The children have both Hungarian and Israeli nationality and we will do everything in our power to free them.”