They exchanged text messages and emojis. Brief status updates with words of encouragement. A picture of the beloved family dog “Tutsi.”

Until no more messages came.

And then, Cindy Flash, an American, and her Israeli husband Igal vanished into the violence, presumed kidnapped by Hamas.

Four days after Hamas attacked Israel, more than 100 Israelis and potentially dozens of foreign nationals are thought to be held captive in the Gaza Strip. At least 14 U.S. citizens have been killed and an unknown number are still unaccounted for.

Flash, 67, originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, is one of them. She lives in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz in southern Israel near Gaza, where some of the most harrowing and grisly stories have been emerging during the last few days.

“They are breaking down the safe room door,” Flash said in one of her final messages to her daughter Keren, 34. “We need someone to come by the house right now.” She had been communicating with her parents from a few houses away.

Keren described her mother, who worked as an administrator in a local college, as someone who had the “sweetest biggest heart,” who everyone knew and loved, and who had spent a lifetime advocating for the rights of Palestinians, including those who live in Gaza where she may now be held.

  • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s like saying you love the US and someone asks why you love the KKK

    • steltek@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      That someone would be creating a strawman.

      The KKK is not the ruling government of the US. The KKK has next to nothing for popular support. The KKK does not claim to be working in the best interests of all Americans.

    • Seventhlevin@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Would that not be a fair question if the KKK had been the democratically elected, ruling party in the U.S. going on two decades now? E.G. asking a german in the early 1940’s why they love the Nazis?