SignalHub-AP PHOTOS: Israeli families of hostages taken to Gaza caught between grief and hope as war rages on

TEL AVIV,SignalHub Israel (AP) — As the weeks wear on and new horrors from the Israel-Hamas war dominate TV screens, families whose loved ones were killed or abducted by militants in the terrifying Oct. 7 raids on southern Israel say it is their mission to ensure the hostages are not forgotten.

Those whose relatives remain in Hamas captivity, hidden in Gaza’s tunnels or exposed to the threat of Israel’s unprecedented bombardment of the besieged strip, have become tireless advocates for securing the hostages’ release.

“My whole life stopped,” said Keren Scharf Schem, whose 21-year-old daughter Mia, a French-Israeli citizen, was seized by Hamas gunmen during the assault on a freewheeling outdoor music and dance festival in southern Israel. Over 260 attendees were killed.

“My every waking hour is spent going, going, going, doing everything and anything I can to bring her back,” Scharf Schem told The Associated Press. “When I stop or sit down, I cannot breathe. At night, I take some pills to sleep a few hours and then I wake up and force myself to go through it all again.”

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As public outrage mounted over the government’s failure to protect its citizens, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the appointment of Gal Hirsch, a retired general, as coordinator for the captives and missing. The country’s security forces opened a center for families to register missing relatives, asking them to bring photographs and items from which authorities can gather samples of DNA. Photographs of hostages are everywhere: on billboards, on street lamps, on empty walls.

Hamas militants have released four Israeli captives following negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar. And Israel said Monday it had rescued a 19-year-old abducted Israeli soldier, Pvt. Ori Megidish, during a ground operation in Gaza — the first such rescue since the war began.

News of the rescue left the families of hostages caught in a paradox: in continuing pain while grasping onto hope.

That contradiction tore right through members of the Goldstein Almog family, who evacuated to a Tel Aviv hotel after their Kfar Aza kibbutz was devastated in the raids. Hamas gunmen killed triathlon athlete Nadav Goldstein Almog and his 20-year-old daughter, Yam. The family said their remains were identified only because of Goldstein Almog’s crutches — from a recent injury — and Yam’s unique tattoos.

But hope for the survival of Goldstein Almog’s wife, Chen, and their other three children ages 9-17 who were abducted and taken to Gaza, is keeping the family from becoming paralyzed by despair.

“I’m not imagining where they are now,” said Omri Almog, Nadav’s 51-year-old brother. “We try to stay positive.”

When asked how, Almog said a single thought helped him to carry on.

“I think about the moment that they all come home,” he said. “I imagine what kind of joy I’ll feel when we are all together again.”

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Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.