The family of a woman missing in the aftermath of the Nova Music Festival massacre believe she was kidnapped and that her captors are taunting them with phone calls.
At least 260 people were confirmed to have died at the Israeli music festival attacked by Hamas fighters on Saturday.
Revellers at the all-night Nova rave at Kibbutz Re'im, near the Gaza border, were gunned down by militants who arrived by microlight planes.
Several other festivalgoers, who avoided the bullets, are believed to have been kidnapped and taken across the border to Gaza.
One Israeli family said they had received taunting phone calls from those they believed kidnapped their daughter.
“I am getting phone calls on my WhatsApp from Arab numbers. I hear women screaming in the background and they are telling me 'We are Hamas … and you have beautiful daughters'," said Uhuva Maizel, mother of Adi Maizel, 21.
I am getting phone calls on my WhatsApp from Arab numbers. I hear women screaming in the background
Uhuva Maizel,
mother of Adi Maizel, 21
Ms Maizel was among the hundreds attacked by Hamas at the festival on Saturday morning.
Her mother said her "beautiful and wonderful daughter" went along with a friend to the one-day festival.
The last they heard from her was at 7.40am on Saturday morning when Hamas gunmen landed near the event.
"We heard a lot of noises and shooting and bombing,” said the mother over a Zoom call with the media on Monday.
“Since then, we have no accurate information about her. We don’t know what condition she is in. We don’t know if she is dead or alive.
"We don’t know if she is somewhere bleeding. We don’t know if someone abducted her. We are helpless, completely helpless as her parents."
There has been no official confirmation of any kidnappings from the event, raising the possibility the calls are the work of pranksters, given contact numbers of the victims were shared on a lost-and-found Facebook page.
"They know our distress and they are using it in the lowest level of … mankind,” the mother said.
"Adi, you are not alone. Everyone is looking for you. You will be saved,” she added, hoping that her daughter could be listening.
Families fear the worst
Other families are finding solace in WhatsApp messages they received from loved ones, who remain missing, and are praying for their safe return.
“Everything is OK, we are at a safe house,” was the last message Zoya, 22, (name changed at her family’s request) sent to her brother at 7am, soon after the attack began.
“That is the last we heard from her. We don’t know what happened to her after that,” Zoya’s brother, who does not want to be named, told The National.
“We don’t want to lose hope. But anything could have happened to her. We don’t want to think about the worst."
She went to the festival with four of her friends and only two are known to have managed to escape to safety.
“The girls told me armed men started spraying bullets and killed hundreds on the spot," the brother said. "Both of them have bullet wounds, shrapnel wounds all over their body, and are even terrified even to speak.
Israeli couple said to be abducted
Israeli couple, Avinatan Or, 30, and Noa Argamani, 26, were believed to have been abducted by Hamas militants near the border.
The couple’s friend, Dolev Kikos, told The National he had been in touch with them just hours before the attack.
“Avinatan came for a coffee at my place on Friday and he spoke about this trance music festival he was planning to attend with his girlfriend Noa,” he said.
Mr Or works in the IT sector and Ms Argamani is a student.
Mr Kikos said he was woken up on Saturday by the sound of rockets fired by Hamas into southern Israel which resulted in a massive Israeli aerial bombardment of Gaza.
He contacted his friend at 9am to check whether he was OK.
“Avinatan kept sending me messages with live updates of around 20 armed men hunting down Israelis and killing them one by one. He was terrified.
“I told him to hide as I was sure the [Israeli] army would be at the spot soon. But I was wrong.”
The last he heard from his friend was at 10.19am.
“It was the most terrifying moment, as I did not know what was happening to my friend," he said.
By 3pm, Mr Kikos said he started receiving videos on WhatsApp of Ms Argamani sitting in Gaza, crying and drinking water.
“Then another video surfaced of her being taken away by Hamas on a motorbike and Avinatan being taken hostage,” he said. "You could see their faces and how terrified and shocked they look."
Helpless and unable to reach them, Mr Kikos said he could not help but break down in tears.
“I hope my friends are alive and will be back soon. Israel is strong and our people are strong," he said.
"We need the entire world to support us against terrorists.”
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Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
Roger Federer's 2018 record
Australian Open Champion
Rotterdam Champion
Indian Wells Runner-up
Miami Second round
Stuttgart Champion
Halle Runner-up
Wimbledon Quarter-finals
Cincinnati Runner-up
US Open Fourth round
Shanghai Semi-finals
Basel Champion
Paris Masters Semi-finals
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
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Company%20profile
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The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
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THURSDAY FIXTURES
4.15pm: Italy v Spain (Group A)
5.30pm: Egypt v Mexico (Group B)
6.45pm: UAE v Japan (Group A)
8pm: Iran v Russia (Group B)
Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
SPEC SHEET
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Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The specs
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Transmission: CVT auto
Power: 181bhp
Torque: 244Nm
Price: Dh122,900
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
PSG's line up
GK: Alphonse Areola (youth academy)
Defence - RB: Dani Alves (free transfer); CB: Marquinhos (€31.4 million); CB: Thiago Silva (€42m); LB: Layvin Kurzawa (€23m)
Midfield - Angel di Maria (€47m); Adrien Rabiot (youth academy); Marco Verratti (€12m)
Forwards - Neymar (€222m); Edinson Cavani (€63m); Kylian Mbappe (initial: loan; to buy: €180m)
Total cost: €440.4m (€620.4m if Mbappe makes permanent move)
Players Selected for La Liga Trials
U18 Age Group
Name: Ahmed Salam (Malaga)
Position: Right Wing
Nationality: Jordanian
Name: Yahia Iraqi (Malaga)
Position: Left Wing
Nationality: Morocco
Name: Mohammed Bouherrafa (Almeria)
Position: Centre-Midfield
Nationality: French
Name: Mohammed Rajeh (Cadiz)
Position: Striker
Nationality: Jordanian
U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
