Australian family’s hell at hands of Hamas terrorists

An Australian’s two grandsons and daughter-in-law have been abducted and his son’s girlfriend killed after their village in southern Israel was raided by Hamas terrorists.

Adi Vital-Kaploun is among the Israelis taken hostage.

An Australian man has been dealt a double blow by Hamas terrorists, with his grandsons and daughter-in-law abducted and another son’s fiancee killed after their village was raided on Saturday.

Adi Vital-Kaploun is believed to be among those taken hostage by militants who crossed from Gaza into villages and towns in southern Israel to unleash hell.

Adi’s childhood friend, Moses Ben-Giat, said terrorists entered his friend’s home, kidnapping her and using her infant son as a “human shield”. Mr Ben-Giat spoke on behalf of Adi’s Australian father-in-law, ­Yonadav Kaploun, who was too distraught to speak about the events.

Mr Kaploun, 60, is an award-winning poet who was born and lived in Melbourne before his family moved to Israel in 1970. He now lives in Jerusalem.

Mr Ben-Giat said Mr Kaploun’s two sons live with their families in the village of Kibbutz Holit, 2km from the Gaza border.

Both his sons were out in a neighbouring kibbutz, pinned down by gunfire, when members of Hamas launched a surprise attack on Holit.

Mr Ben-Giat said shooting could be heard as early as 6am, with terrorists forcing their way through fencing into the kibbutz later that morning.

“Fifty trucks, each one had four to five terrorists in them, heavily armed with RPGs, with M16s, with machine guns,” he said.

The insurgents smashed down doors, methodically searching the rows of houses in the kibbutz.

Young mother of two, Adi Vital-Kaploun, is believed to be among those kidnapped by Hamas from Holit in southern-Israel on Saturday.

Mr Ben-Giat said they stormed Mr Kaploun’s younger son’s home first, killing his fiancee, Tehilla Katabi, as she slept. “Her body is still there, on the bed, we can’t reach that yet,” he said.

The men continued, going “from house to house” forcibly removing defenceless families, killing those who resisted.

“They took entire families in their house. Anyone who opposed them, by any means … they would kill,” he said. “They weren’t struck by a bomb, they were killed one by one.”

Adi had barricaded herself and her four-month-old and four-year-old sons in a shelter within the house, messaging with neighbour Avital Aladjem as they hid from the insurgents. “Adi tried to hang on as much as she could,” Ms Aladjem said, having last spoken with her at 11 that morning.

Mr Ben-Giat said terrorists threw a grenade into the living room of Adi’s house, blowing open the front door.

Insurgents entered the house after the explosion and dragged Adi and her boys from their home.

A neighbour of Adi and Ms Aladjem, a man, 38, was shot in the head in front of captives as they huddled in a courtyard.

Hamas fighters then separated Adi’s children from their mother and marched them, along with Ms Aladjem, through the kibbutz, using the children as “human shields” to protect themselves.

Mr Ben-Giat said the last he had heard from Adi was via text about midday on Saturday. He believes she was taken by the terrorists shortly after.

Ms Aladjem said: “They took me out of the closet, brought me to the living room, and then brought Adi’s two children, Eshel, 4½ months old, and Negev, 4 … they moved us from house to house. Everything was in ruins, devastation, and blood.”

She said the insurgents made her walk to Gaza with the children and Negev, with an injured leg, was screaming to get down from the shoulders of one of the men.

“They kept telling me, ‘Hurry, hurry’. Meanwhile, there was gunfire all the time. We kept walking and crossed the (Gaza) fence.”

But once in Gaza the men put Negev down and walked away, and Ms Aladjem understood they were being released. She made a sling out of her skirt to carry Eshel, and carried Negev on her back, although she said “he was very brave” and walked too. “Along the way, there were constant explosions,” she said. “When we reached the border, I saw another group of terrorists. They saw us. I took the children and hid behind a sand dune. They didn’t harm us and continued towards Gaza. We kept walking; I knew the children needed to go back home.

“Their mum is missing; she needs to return home, for them (Hamas) to return Adi to her children.’’

Negev is receiving treatment in the Shaare Zedek Medical Centre for a broken leg and the baby has respiratory problems and a fever because of inhaling gun smoke

It is understood the boys have been reunited with their father.

Mr Ben-Giat referred to the attack as Israel’s 9/11 and likened an attempt at brokering peace with Hamas to trying to seek peace with ISIS. “The world needs to know what we are being faced with,” he said.

The Australian contacted Mr Kaploun’s cousin, Adira Kaploun Werdiger, who lives in Victoria, who confirmed she had been in contact with her family in Israel. They wanted to share Adi’s story in the hopes she might be located and returned to Israel but did not want the names of Mr Kaploun’s sons made public.