The daughter of an 84-year-old Israeli woman, who was taken hostage during the attack by Hamas on southern Israel last month, has said Hamas "are not human beings" and do not care about the people of Gaza.
Neta Heiman Mina said she hopes a deal with Hamas can be reached to organise the release of the hostages, because it would be too much to expect the Israeli military to rescue them all.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said: "They [Hamas] are not human beings. They don't care about their people even, they don't care about the Gaza people. And they kill and rape and took people and broke and rob all the Kibbutz. They burn the houses. It is horrible.
"There is no kibbutz. Even if she comes back, she can't go back to the kibbutz, to her kibbutz. She build a heaven and they make it hell."
Ms Heiman Mina said she last spoke with her mother, Ditza Heiman, around 10am on Saturday 7 October.
She said she asked her mother if was in the safe room that morning, and she was, but neither of them realised that the safety room did not lock.
My sister tried to call her again later that afternoon, Ms Heiman Mina said, and Hamas fighters answered the phone.
She said that a neighbour later told her that they were not able to prevent Hamas from taking her mother, and the family saw a video of her a few days later.
Ms Heiman Mina described her mother as a very strong woman who would take care of other people.
However she is 84, she said, and needs medicine to survive.
We do not know if she has the right medication, she said.
Ms Heiman Mina said that the first priority of the Israeli government should be to bring the hostages home, not destroy Hamas.
However, she added, the world must understand that Hamas "must be gone" and Israel must protect itself.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
