From Friday to Saturday, Rotam Newman danced outside like hundreds (or thousands, I’m not sure) of other young people at an electronic music festival south of Tel Aviv, Israel. In the morning you will realize that something is not right. The last message the family of the young Portuguese woman knew was sent to a friend. It was location sharing – I was in an air raid shelter – and I asked this friend to go there. He will be safe there.
“On Saturday morning, everyone in Israel heard warning sirens Rockets. At first, we thought it was the first of a few more days of fighting, something we’re more or less used to,” Rodem’s cousin, Tomer Newman, told PÚBLICO. “After a few hours we started seeing more news in the shelter, on TV, on social media. We don’t know what is going on, but we know there are many terrorists [membros do Hamas] They entered Israel and we know they first attacked a music festival a few kilometers from Gaza.”
They put the pieces together: Rotem was at this party. Since then, the 25-year-old has not been heard from and the family is trying to figure out what happened as much as possible. Many stories, videos, reports from acquaintances allowed Tomer to imagine the most likely scenario.
“She didn’t meet the terrorists at the festival site and fled north with several friends, not knowing they would meet armed men,” recounts Domer, also 25 years old with a Portuguese passport. “They encountered the terrorists, changed direction, realized they were ambushed. Then they hid in an underground shelter, designed to protect people from airstrikes, but not others.”
It was there, at 7 a.m., that Rotem told another friend, Ben, to go to the group at the shelter, where they would be safe. Ben may have stayed at the festival site for too long and said he heard gunshots and was heading to the shelter soon. An hour later, he asked Rotam how it was there. Rodem didn’t answer, and Ben wouldn’t have gone to the shelter.
“I don’t know this from my cousin, but people who were in the same situation, escaped and talked to us. I know that when they came to this shelter they found a lot of bodies”, explains Tomar.
Despite being held hostage by Hamas, the family hopes Rotem is okay, but “it’s getting harder by the hour,” he says.
The Tel Aviv-based behavioral science student won’t be the only Portuguese at the festival. Also missing is 22-year-old Doreen Attius. Both are of Sephardic descent and hold Portuguese passports.
According to Henrik Seimerman, SIC correspondent in Israel, Dorin spoke to his mother for the last time on Friday night and said that the next day, he was camping next to the fence that separates the Gaza Strip from the Gaza Strip. State of Israel, to participate in the music festival.
Hours later, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, choosing a crowd dancing near Gaza as its first target. At least 260 people were killed in the blockade alone. It is not known how many people were abducted.
Contacted by PÚBLICO, the Portuguese Foreign Ministry said this Monday that it had received “no communication from the Israeli authorities” that the young Sephardim reported missing Portuguese citizenship in Israel.
Message updated at 9:55 p.m.: Title changed
“Hardcore explorer. Extreme communicator. Professional writer. General music practitioner. Prone to fits of apathy.”