“I feel like I will spend my first birthday as a hostage… The reason Israel fights day and night.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations took the podium with a cake to celebrate the birthday of the youngest hostage held by the Palestinian armed faction Hamas.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan attended the UN General Assembly meeting on the situation in the Gaza Strip on the 9th (local time) with a cake engraved with the face of Kfir Bibas, a one-year-old hostage detained by Hamas.
On the top of this round-shaped cake, there was Kfir’s photo written in red letters along with his name, the number 1, meaning 1 year old, and the phrase ‘Bring Me Home.’
Ambassador Erdan held it up during his speech and said, “Imagine that this child is your child. “Will you stop fighting to bring this child back?” he appealed. He went on to say, “Even if it takes hundreds of years, it won’t happen.”
He defined Hamas’ Al-Aqsa flood raid three months ago as “the most widespread massacre of Jews since the Holocaust” and said, “Tragically, Kfir will spend his first birthday as a hostage of Hamas.”
He continued, “What kind of monster would deliberately take a baby hostage and treat it like an enemy?” He continued, “It is painful that a child, instead of receiving love, was captured by terrorists and became a hostage.”
“Kfir, this cake is for you,” he said. “You are the reason Israel fights day and night.” He argued for the legitimacy of the Israeli military’s battle in the Gaza Strip.
He also raised his voice, saying, “I will stand here and recall Kfir’s birthday,” and “I will remind you all of our moral obligation to fight for Kfir and his right to celebrate his birthday.”
Kfir is the youngest hostage taken by armed militants during Hamas’ Al-Aqsa flood raid on October 7 last year. He was reportedly 9 months old at the time. Today marks the 96th day, or about three months, of the Al-Aqsa flood raid.
After Israel began its battle in the Gaza Strip to eradicate Hamas, attention focused on the fate of the Kfir. Hamas once claimed that Kfir was killed in an Israeli airstrike, but there is no definitive information.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.