Israel war: Hamas kidnapped 84-year-old Israeli woman as she cried for help, grandson says

EXCLUSIVE — The kidnapping of an 84-year-old Israeli woman by the terrorist group Hamas amid its deadly attack against the Jewish state has a family searching for urgent answers and help from their government.

“My grandma is a wonderful woman,” Moran Mina, 21, an Israel Defense Forces soldier, told the Washington Examiner in an interview on Friday, referring to Ditza Heiman. “She has a big family, five grandchildren. We all love her. She is the sweetest person we know.”

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“Hamas is worse than animals,” Mina, who works in Israel’s artillery battalion, said. “Animals don’t kill for fun. They don’t kidnap children and elderly for fun. They don’t cut heads off children and women and babies.”

(Moran Mina)

Heiman’s story is a tragic look at how Iran-backed Hamas has kidnapped innocent Israelis while also murdering and raping civilians. Since the war began on the heels of Hamas carrying out its unprecedented Saturday attack by air, sea, and land, over 1,300 people in Israel have been killed, while an estimated 150 are being held hostage.

Over 1,500 Gazans have died after Israel’s retaliation, according to Hamas, which told Palestinians on Friday “to ignore” Israel’s warning for over 1.1 million civilians to evacuate Gaza City due to Israel reportedly preparing a ground operation. The White House said Thursday that at least 27 Americans have died due to the conflict, while 14 are unaccounted for. “I have not given up hope on bringing these folks home. But the idea that I’m going to stand here before you and tell you what I’m doing is bizarre,” President Joe Biden told reporters Wednesday of his diplomatic efforts.

Since she was 18, Heiman has lived in Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel with a population of 800 that saw at least 78 of its community members taken by Hamas. Terrorists descended on Nir Oz in the early morning hours on Saturday as residents hid in shelters and terrorists burned down houses. “Dozens were murdered, suffocated by smoke or kidnapped to the Gaza Strip,” reads a fundraiser website by the community for the kibbutz. “Dozens are still missing.”

While Heiman was initially responsive to WhatsApp messages from her family early Saturday, her phone went dark at 10 p.m. Moreover, others in the kibbutz could not be reached by Mina and his relatives.

But on Sunday at 4 a.m., a moment that now haunts Mina’s family, his aunt placed a call to Heiman. The phone call went through. Someone else was on the other line.

“It’s Hamas! It’s Hamas!” a person yelled over the phone to Mina’s aunt, Dafna. The call disconnected. But five hours later, at 9 a.m., the family obtained new information.

Heiman’s neighbor called them and described what he witnessed. The grandmother was taken from her home by a group of armed Hamas terrorists while she screamed in Hebrew repeatedly, “Please help me!” The neighbor fled to a safe house, unable to defend himself.

(Moran Mina)

On Tuesday, Mina and his family spotted a video posted on Facebook by Hamas that showed Heiman alive and in a truck. Mina has tried to contact the Israeli government, but the government “said nothing” and “didn’t have any information,” he told the Washington Examiner.

“We don’t know anything about how they keep her,” Mina, who lives in the northern Israel city of Haifa, said. “I’m sure that if the children are held with her, she’s taking care of them. And she will come back to us.”

Israeli forces are continuing to pummel Gaza with airstrikes, and the U.S. has pledged full support to the Jewish state. “This is no time for neutrality, or for false equivalence, or for excuses for the inexcusable,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Friday.

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Gaza fired a long-range missile on Friday toward Israel, though it was intercepted in the north, according to Israeli forces. Reports have indicated that Hamas received planning help for its attack from Iran, though the U.S. and Israel are still reviewing intelligence to understand whether this was the case.

“I am trying to save my grandmother,” Mina said.