Long Island couple desperate for news on niece, 3 children taken hostage by Hamas
NEW YORK -- A Long Island couple is desperately awaiting word on their niece and her three children, who were all kidnapped by Hamas during the attack in Israel.
Just one day before the attack, Ofri Brodutch celebrated her 10th birthday with family. Hours later, she, along with her mother, Hagar, and two younger brothers, were taken hostage from their home, which was right on the border of Gaza.
Geula Strauss is Hagar's aunt.
"My brother called, and he said that two people told them that they saw that they'd been taken, and others said there's no blood in the house, so they were somewhere alive," Strauss told CBS New York's Alecia Reid.
At the time, Hagar Brodutch's husband had left to help protect their kibbutz - their community. He's now doing everything he can to get his wife and children home.
"He really inspires everybody because there's no quitting that guy. He's just pushing his almighty cause. There is no cause higher than your wife and children," said Eran Strauss, Geula's husband.
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Geula and Eran Strauss live on Long Island, but the majority of their family is in Israel. They've been in constant contact since Oct. 7 when the war broke out.
"I don't really think. I hardly function," Geula Strauss said.
"Sleepless nights, extreme tension, inability to concentrate. My wife is on edge all the time, so I have to support her," Eran Strauss said.
While dealing with the stress of the hostage situation, Brodutch's father and her siblings left their homes in Israel.
"They moved out of the kibbutz and my other niece, who's her sister, moved so the family will be together in a safer place," Geula Strauss said.
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"It was unsafe to leave civilians in the area, so they just told everybody to evacuate and everybody evacuated," Eran Strauss said.
"I just want all these people to come home," Geula Strauss said.
The Strauss family says moments before their niece and her children were taken hostage, she took in another child whose mother had just been killed by Hamas.