Israeli parents have been warned to remove social media from their kids’ phones after Hamas announced plans to release videos of Israeli hostages. The Palestinian militant group has said that the videos are intended to put pressure on the Israeli government to release Palestinian prisoners.
The warning comes from the Israeli Internal Security Agency (ISA), which has said that the videos are likely to be graphic and disturbing. The ISA has also said that Hamas may try to use the videos to incite violence against Israelis.
In response to the warning, many Israeli parents are taking steps to protect their children. Some parents are removing social media from their kids’ phones altogether. Others are setting restrictions on social media use, such as limiting the amount of time their kids can spend on social media or blocking certain websites.
Israel Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer told CNN that Americans were among the hostages taken by Hamas. “I think it’s scores of hostages,” Dermer said. “I can tell you there’s also American hostages as part of that number as well. … These were women, they’re children, they’re elderly; they’re Holocaust survivors. This is sick. It’s a savage attack.”
According to the New York Times, at least 150 Israelis were taken hostage, noting that an Israeli military spokesman said on Tuesday that families of at least 50 Israelis had been informed members of their families had been taken hostage.
Abu Obeida, a Hamas spokesman, claimed the terrorist group had hidden “dozens of hostages” in “safe places and the tunnels of the resistance.”
The cruelty of Hamas was already seen in videos the terrorist group had released even before news broke on Tuesday that Hamas terrorists had slaughtered at least 40 babies and decapitated some of them.
Nicole Zedeck, reporting from Kfar Aza, said it was “hard to even explain exactly the mass casualties that happened right here.”
Zedeck said she saw “baby cribs thrown to the side” and “strollers left behind” after upwards of 70 terrorists stormed the community on Saturday, slaughtering entire families and taking numerous hostages. In a kibbutz, babies are typically all housed together in one nursery.
The following message is being sent to Israeli parents from their children’s schools:
Dear Parents,
It has been brought to our attention that videos of hostages begging for their lives will soon be released.
Please remove the @TikTok and @instagram apps from your children's…— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) October 10, 2023
