Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
To escape impending captivity or perhaps even death, a fearful Israeli father grabbed his three-year-old daughter in his arms before jumping out of a car being driven by Hamas militants towards Gaza, his relatives have said.
His brother Or Gat has shared the family’s story of survival but also of anguish – their elderly mother was shot dead at point-blank range, while his sister and sister-in-law remain among the hostages still held by Hamas.
Or Gat was the only one of his family not present at his parents’ home in Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas militants smashed through the Gaza border on October 7 and killed more than 1,400 Israelis in the south.
“My family’s story is horrible but there are many families who have lost everyone," Mr Gat told The National from Tel Aviv.
His mother Kinneret, 69, was killed and his sister Carmel, 39, and sister-in-law Yarden Roman Gat, 35, were kidnapped.
His brother Alon Gat, 37, and daughter Geffen, 3, were also abducted but managed to escape.
Making a break
Mr Gat has pieced together the story by talking to his father and brother and from family text messages.
He messaged his family at 6.30am for four hours before Hamas fighters closed in on their home.
His 69-year-old father was in the bathroom when gunmen stormed into the house.
His mother gestured for her husband to stay hidden, as he watched his family being led out by armed militants.
Mr Gat said his father survived the militants spraying bullets and torching their home.
The rest of the family was pushed into a car and driven towards Gaza.
It was then that Alon and his wife Yarden attempted to make a break for it.
“When they started driving to the Gaza Strip, Alon – with Geffen in his arms – and Yarden jumped out of the car,” Mr Gat said.
“Alon escaped with bullets whistling by his ears. He is a tour guide and familiar with the field so he stayed camouflaged in the bushes for 15 hours.”
But Yarden, a German-Israeli citizen, was recaptured by Hamas fighters and listed as kidnapped with their sister Carmel.
Alon continued hiding, calming his terrified daughter before slowly making his way home.
He needed to be careful as they could have been discovered by Hamas or targeted by Israeli forces on the lookout for the militants.
The brothers have since returned to the spot where the couple jumped out of the car in a desperate attempt to trace information about the hostages.
“The last time Alon saw Yarden, she was hiding behind a tree,” Mr Gat said.
“She hid to avoid the bullets but could not run as fast as Alon.
“We did a lot of searching. The only indication we have that she was taken again was that we didn’t find any blood, we didn’t find a body.”
Ocean of pain
Their mother Kinneret was separated from the young family when they were pulled out of their home.
With her hands tied, she was filmed walking alongside other elderly residents being led by Hamas fighters through the kibbutz before they were shot.
Watching the footage released by Hamas has had a significant effect on the family.
“You can see her and the others walking in the first video and then on the ground lifeless in the second,” Mr Gat said.
More than 100 bodies were found in Kibbutz Be’eri, according to Israeli military officials.
“It’s like an ocean of pain,” Mr Gat said of losing some of his loved ones.
“We have a mission to take care of the living, who seem OK but are in trauma.
“There is sadness, sorrow, pain and anger.”
'Bring back our girls'
Mr Gat cannot stop crying as he relives the attacks.
“I want to bring back our girls,” he said.
“They are caught on the wrong side of the fence right now.
“We need to bring them back, all of them, this is not just my family’s story.”
Despite the pain caused to his family by the Hamas attack, Mr Gat holds on to the lessons of peace that his mother, a teacher, lived by.
“Put down weapons and make peace,” Mr Gat said was the only path.
In retaliation to the Hamas attacks, Israeli has cut off water, electricity and fuel to Gaza. It has bombarded the small city with one of the heaviest and sustained spells of air strikes in the history of the conflict, which have killed more than 5,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children.
“Even right now when Carmel and Yarden are held by Hamas and my mother has been murdered by Hamas – peace is the only solution," Mr Gat said.
“We don’t want to hurt innocent civilians in Gaza – my mother would have told me that."
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
MATCH INFO
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Serie A
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The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
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SPECS
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
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The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
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EA Sports FC 25
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Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Agreement aims to boost trade by £25.5bn a year in the long run, compared with a total of £42.6bn in 2024
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Jetour T1 specs
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How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
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About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: N2 Technology
Founded: 2018
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Startups
Size: 14
Funding: $1.7m from HNIs
Neil Thomson – THE BIO
Family: I am happily married to my wife Liz and we have two children together.
Favourite music: Rock music. I started at a young age due to my father’s influence. He played in an Indian rock band The Flintstones who were once asked by Apple Records to fly over to England to perform there.
Favourite book: I constantly find myself reading The Bible.
Favourite film: The Greatest Showman.
Favourite holiday destination: I love visiting Melbourne as I have family there and it’s a wonderful place. New York at Christmas is also magical.
Favourite food: I went to boarding school so I like any cuisine really.
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Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
National Editorial: Suleimani has been killed, now we must de-escalate
Mina Al Oraibi: Air strike casts a long shadow over the decade ahead
Jack Moore: Why the assassination is such a monumental gamble
Matthew Levitt: Iran retains its ability to launch terror attacks
Damien McElroy: A CEO tasked with spreading Iran's influence
Hussein Ibish: Trump's order on solid constitutional ground
Simon Waldman: Cautious Israel keeping a low profile
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Director: Christopher McQuarrie
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Mina Al Oraibi: Air strike casts a long shadow over the decade ahead
Jack Moore: Why the assassination is such a monumental gamble
Matthew Levitt: Iran retains its ability to launch terror attacks
Damien McElroy: A CEO tasked with spreading Iran's influence
Hussein Ibish: Trump's order on solid constitutional ground
Simon Waldman: Cautious Israel keeping a low profile
