Yigal Yaacov is a bright blue-eyed sandy haired 12 year old boy, that lives in southern Israel.
In the photos and videos shared online – his carefree, happy spirit is evident – he is silly, goofy, lovable.
Like most other 12-year old boys, he enjoys playing soccer and making Tik Tok videos.
As of this writing, Yigal has been held in captivity in the depths of hell for 51 days.
“Don’t take me, I’m too young,” these were the last words that Yigal’s mother Renana Gome heard from him – as she phoned Yigal and his 16-year old brother Or.
His last words – heard by his mother as she stayed on the phone with her two boys – Yigal and his brother Or as they were brutally taken from their home in southern Israel, kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, and taken to Gaza, where they have not been heard from since, except for a propaganda video released by Hamas showing Yigal.
That video haunts me.
Yigal – gaunt with heavily weighted black under eyes, and graying sallow skin – is a stark contrast to the sunny 12-year old with ice blue eyes. As a Jewish and Israeli mother of two boys, I am agonizing over this child and his family.
At the time of this writing, there are still some 183 hostages – 18 of which are children – still in captivity in Gaza.
Over the past 3 days we have watched the scenes of two sets of hostages returning home to their families.
Now some of them are starting to talk.
They speak of dire conditions – some hostages are being held in cages people’s homes in Gaza, and surviving on rice for weeks.
The young children who made it out speak in soft whispers – having been instructed by their captors not to speak at a normal tone of voice.
The ones who made it out are alive in body but not in spirit, its as if the light inside has been dimmed – who knows how they will cope with what they have been through.
They are children as young as Israeli-American girl Abigail Edan, just 4 years old – whose parents were slaughtered.
There are elderly women as old as 84-year old Alma Avraham, who returned to Israel from Hamas captivity and is now in critical condition in an Israeli hospital.
Like many Jewish women I know who are suffering this collective grief over the slaughter of our brothers and sisters in Israel, the rape, mutilation and desecration of women’s bodies on that horrid day, the fate of the hostages being held in Gaza, and the rampant hatred and anti-semitism across the globe, we are living our lives in a constant state of mourning.
We wake up to thoughts of the hostages, and go to sleep – if we are lucky- to thoughts of the hostages.
I think about Yigal and his brother Or. Do they have enough to eat? Are they being treated humanely? How are their basic needs being taken care of? They have not seen sunlight for 51 days, how are they coping? Are they able to console each other? Will they make it out alive? And if they are so lucky, will they ever be able to go on and lead a somewhat normal life after all of this trauma?
As a mom, as a woman, as a Jew, as an Israeli, the events on October 7 and the aftermath have burned an indelible wound in my soul. I pray for Yigal, his brother Or, and their other 181 hostages being held in Gaza.
Bring them home now, alive, safe and well.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In