American in Israel ‘crossing every finger’ for family’s return

(NewsNation) — An American living in Israel is praying for the safe return of three of her family members.

Abbey Onn initially thought five family members were kidnapped by Hamas, but she has since learned two were found dead following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Onn tells “NewsNation Now” that her loved ones — Ofer Kalderon, Sahar Kalderon and Erez Kalderon — are presumed to be hostages of Hamas and that Noya and Carmela Dan have died.

Onn said she and her family woke up Oct. 7 to sirens in Israel. At first, they thought it was the “run of the mill war” but quickly understood that wasn’t the case. Communicating on WhatsApp, Onn said that some of her family members said Hamas had infiltrated their kibbutz close to Gaza.

She now knows that Carmela and Noya Dan were together and that Carmela Dan’s house was burned to the ground. Onn says Ofer, Sahar and Erez Kalderon were in another house on the kibbutz. She gathered from messages they escaped from a window and hid in a nearby bush.

“We know that they were outside, and we believe that’s how they were taken,” Onn said.

Onn also says she watched footage posted online that shows Erez, her 12-year-old cousin, being abducted on the kibbutz, which is about a mile-and-a-half walk from Gaza. She believes there’s likely more video out there that may be able to piece together what happened.

“But there’s so much video, I believe it exists, that it’s just taking people a very, very long time to get through. In the meantime, we’re trying to put every pressure on our government officials and media and social media to make sure that the hostages are not forgotten while this war heats up,” she said.

Onn later added: “This is a living nightmare for the people that are there and for the people that love them and for the entire country.”

Onn’s comments come as Hamas said it released two elderly Israeli hostages on Monday and two Americans on Friday.

“We celebrate every release. I feel like every journalist, every government official, everyone that is putting pressure out and continuing to talk about this is putting the pressure in the right place. And we’re grateful for that. And we won’t stop until each and everyone is home,” Onn said.

As Israel prepares its ground offensive in Gaza, Onn hopes the hostages will remain the prime concern.

“I don’t believe the war should be built on the backs of innocent civilians, of babies and Holocaust survivors and women and children. I believe that they should be the first priority for release before anything else happens,” Onn said. “Israel has to respond to what happened on Oct. 7 and what continues to happen. We’re taking rockets every day. But it can’t happen while those hostages are spread around Gaza in insecure positions.”

At least 200 people were taken captive by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.