Abigail Edan has returned home two days after her birthday, kidnapped by the jihadist group Hamas. She has spent 51 days of her recently completed four years in captivity in the Gaza Strip without knowing why unknown assailants shot her parents, why she cannot see daylight and why hooded men took her from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in the south of Israel, to a distant place even if it is just a few kilometers from his home. Without knowing why someone called Joe Biden called his family to ask about her after being released.
Abigail also does not know that she has become a symbol in Israel or that her return was a personal mission from the American president who, after remembering that the American-Israeli girl suffered “a terrible trauma”he confirmed excitedly: “He’s free. Thank God he’s home.”
Along with eight other Israeli children and four women, Abigail was part of the list of the third round of the truce agreement. In addition, Hamas released an Israeli-Russian “as a gesture of recognition to President Vladimir Putin for his support for the Palestinian cause,” and three Thais.
Of the dozens of children kidnapped in the October 7 attack that sparked the massive Israeli military operation, only Abigail was kidnapped without her parents. On “Black Saturday,” her kibbutz was awakened by Hamas shells. Her father Roy, a photographer for the news website YNET, did not hesitate, left the house and took incredible photos of people arriving by paraglider. He quickly returned to his house. The terrorists also hurried. His wife Smadar had already been murdered.. Shortly after, he was shot in Abigail’s presence. The girl, with her father’s blood on her clothes, ran to the neighbors’ house.
“Suddenly, I heard soft knocking on the door. I saw Abigail all white with blood that was not hers.. She started running. I took her into the house with my wife and went to look for a weapon,” said Avijai Brodetz, who tried with other neighbors to contain the attack. When he returned, he no longer found his wife Hagar or his children Ofri (10), Yuval (8 ) and Oriya (4) nor Abigail, the little girl of his great friend Roy. He thought they were murdered until he was notified of the kidnapping of all of them. Not all of them because Abigail’s older brothers, Mijail (9) and Amalia (6 ) They were saved by hiding for more than 10 hours in a closet.