American Family Haunted by Mom’s Final Screams as Hamas Descended

Adrienne Neta, a 66-year-old native of California, was sitting on the front porch of her home in Israel speaking to her kids by phone when Hamas militants arrived without warning on Saturday.

The last thing Nahar Neta heard was his mom’s screams.

“It is our hope—which is a little bit ridiculous at this stage to say—but the optimistic scenario here is that she’s held hostage in Gaza and not dead on the street of the kibbutz where we grew up,” Nahar told CNN on Tuesday.

Like dozens of other American families, the Netas have been left in the dark, largely forcing them to rely on cell phone footage and survivor’s accounts to try and piece together Adrienne’s potential fate. The Israeli rescue agency Zaka said Monday that 100 bodies had been recovered from the kibbutz where Neta lived, Fox News reported.

“We don’t believe she is among the dead, but everything is a blur and no one has any concrete information,” Nahar told Fox News.

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday afternoon that the American death toll in the war had reached 14—a startling number that is projected to only grow in the coming days, multiple U.S. officials have said. At least 20 Americans are missing, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Feared to be among the dead or hostages are Judith Ranaan, 59, and her daughter, 18-year-old Natalie Ranaan, who left their Chicago home to celebrate the Jewish High Holidays with loved ones in Israel and haven’t been heard from since Hamas first infiltrated Israel.

The pair seemingly vanished around noon on Saturday, family members told the Chicago Sun-Times. They’d reportedly been staying in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz—a small agricultural town—about 1.5 miles from the Gaza border, where Hamas’ surprise attack quickly overran Israeli defenses, leaving many unarmed Israelis and tourists vulnerable to murder or abduction.

Confirmed among the dead were Deborah and Shlomi Matias, a couple killed as they shielded their 16-year-old son from gunfire inside their home in Israel, their family said in a statement to the Boston Globe. Deborah, 50, was raised in Missouri but lived in Southern Israel.

Deborah’s dad, Ilan Troen, told the Globe his daughter and son-in-law’s death wasn’t merely an attack, but a “pogrom.” He said the couple had received a phone alert warning that a Hamas missile strike may hit near them in 45 seconds. They survived that blast and called Troen, who recalled his daughter saying she heard Arabic being yelled and gunfire ringing out.

Troen said he never heard from his daughter again. She was able to save her son Rotem in her final moments alive, however, with Troen saying Rotem survived a shot to his abdomen thanks to his parents’ sacrifice.

Rotem reportedly texted his grandpa that he survived after hiding for 12 hours under his parents’ dead bodies and under a bed. He remained in the building despite it being set on fire by Hamas militants—a tactic Troen speculated was used to flush out survivors from the building so they could be shot dead.

Troen said rescuers found Rotem hiding under a blanket, covered in gray and black soot from smoke.

The parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old originally from Virginia who also previously lived in California, said they were fearing the worst after hearing eyewitness accounts of their son’s arm being blown off by Hamas’ gunfire.

Goldberg-Polin is believed to have been kidnapped at a music festival and taken hostage after using any resources he could to repel Hamas attackers, according to his mom, Rachel Goldberg, who spoke to CNN on Tuesday.

The festival was one of Hamas’ first targets in Saturday’s assault, with Israeli officials saying as many as 260 people were massacred at the site near the Gaza border—where a day of dancing, drinking, and music quickly turned into a nightmare. Danielle Ben Senior, a 34-year-old Israeli-American, was also missing from the same music festival—with all calls to her phone going unanswered since Saturday, her family told CNN.

Goldberg-Polin, who moved to Israel in 2008, was reportedly celebrating his birthday and completion of his mandatory military service. Once Hamas infiltrated the festival, he took off running with other festival-goers and hid in a bomb-shelter, dodging bullets and grenades along the way, his mom said.

“Hersh and his good friend were trying to throw grenades back out of the bomb shelter,” Goldberg said. “They were fish in a barrel, sitting in this bomb shelter.”

Survivors told Golderg-Polin’s relatives that he remained calm amid the death and destruction. His final texts to his parents were “I’m sorry” and “I love you.”

Hayim Katsman, a 32-year-old academic who held a Ph.D. in international studies from the University of Washington, was identified by friends and family as another American killed in Israel. He was reportedly shot dead as he hid in a closet near the Gaza border, where he’d been conducting research.

Avital Alajem, a friend who was hiding in the same closet, said she was captured by Hamas fighters along with two children, but were later released. She credited Katsman with saving her life in an interview with CNN.

Francis Abugbilla, a former classmate and roommate of Katsman, told the Seattle Times he believes he texted Katsman just moments before he was gunned down.

“On Saturday morning, I texted him, ‘Hey Hayim, I hope you are OK amidst the current situation,’” Abugbilla said. “He read it, but I didn’t hear back from him.”

The family of Itay Chen, a native New Yorker who is feared to have been captured by Hamas while fighting on the front lines, have diverted their anger directly to U.S. officials in Israel.

The Independent reported Tuesday that they’d joined a protest outside the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem to demand answers about the whereabouts of their 19-year-old son—who was officially deemed “missing in action” by the Israel Defense Forces.

“We are asking the president to do what he can in order to bring our kids back safely home,” Ruby Chen told USA Today. “Biden needs to step up for all children—all citizens deserve protection, and kids need to know that the United States is behind them 100%.”

Ruby told CNN that no one had seen Itay in a hospital or a morgue, making him believe his son is a prisoner of war—and he fears Hamas won’t treat him as required under international law.

“I think that the U.S. at a minimum needs to demand that any POW needs to be treated according to international law, which states that you need to take care of the prisoner, you need to identify him, you need to allow the Red Cross or the U.N. to visit and see what is the status of that prisoner,” he said. “We unfortunately do not get that treatment at the moment.”