Addis Ababa [Ethiopia]: At the Addis Ababa airport a long queue of Israeli citizens await connecting flights back home. Many of them have been called up as Army reservists. The terror unleashed by Hamas has shocked them. One of those returning home is Erez Semaria, who called the Hamas terrorists “monsters” for targeting women and children.
“They were pulling women and children out of their beds and dragging them away to Gaza like monsters out of a fairy tale storybook. Usually, they are much more PR-conscious, and I’m surprised that they would unmask themselves like this,” Erez Semaria said.
He added, “Just the complete monsters, indefensible. I don’t understand anybody who could stand up for this sort of thing…They’re probably going after soft targets, they haven’t targeted the military during this. They’ve mostly focused on civilians.”
In an exclusive interview with media at the Addis Ababa Airport, during layover time for an Israel connecting flight via Ethiopia, Erez Semaria said that the Hamas is directly attacking common people.
“I was very surprised that the attack was very out of line with what they’ve done in the past with missile attacks. This was a direct attack on civilians. I don’t know what explanation they could hide behind” he said.
Erez Semaria is an American citizen settled in Israel for the last several years. Erez and his entire family had gone to Japan for a holiday on the day Hamas launched a barbaric attack on Israel.
He was traveling with his family members two daughters, a son and his wife to Israel. Despite the ongoing war, many families are moving back to Israel to stand with the people in a time of crisis.
Another Israeli national, Elon Doga at the Addis Ababa Airport, who was also returning home, affirmed that he is ready to fight the terrorists.
“I’m going to my home. We are ready to fight these terrorists” said Elon while speaking to media at the Adis Ababa airport.
At least 900 Israelis were killed and over 2,616 people injured after Hamas launched a barbaric attack on Israel.
In a war update shared by Israel Defence forces (IDF) on X, the IDF said that about 30 hostages have been held by Hamas in Gaza in the ongoing conflict.
It also stated that about 4,500 rockets have been fired from Gaza on Israel after which the Israeli defence forces struck 1290 Hamas targets in Gaza.
The Israeli Air Force continues to extensively attack many targets of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.
An IDF Spokesperson has confirmed 123 soldiers have been killed in the fighting, and 50 families have been informed that a relative was kidnapped by Hamas.
As part of its retaliation against Hamas, Israel has mobilised 3,00,000 troops in the last 48 hours. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari informed about the mobilisation and said the IDF “has never mobilized so many reservists so quickly — 300,000 reservists in 48 hours.”
This is the largest mobilisation since the 1973 Yom Kippur War when Israel called up 400,000 reservists, Times of Israel reported.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had finally regained control over the border with the Gaza Strip , 72 hours after Hamas terrorists blew through sections of the barrier and launched an invasion that saw over 1,000 Israelis slaughtered or kidnapped.
On Monday Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked several targets of Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. The aircraft attacked a building used by the Hamas in investigations and an operational infrastructure located inside a mosque.
In addition, an underground tunnel shaft of the terrorist organization and military infrastructures used by the Hamas were also attacked.
