Isreal Hamas War in Gaza: British Citizen Missing In Israel [Video]

The Israeli Embassy in the UK has confirmed that a British citizen, Jake Marlowe, is missing in Israel following the Palestinian attack.

It is unclear whether he has been taken hostage.

According to his mother, Marlowe was working as security staff at an outdoor party at Kibbutz Re’im, near the border with Gaza, when the attack unfolded on Saturday.

In an email response to questions about the man, an embassy spokesperson told the BBC: “Missing, we don’t know if taken hostage at this point.”

It comes after a Sky News report quoted the embassy as saying he had not been heard from since Saturday morning.

What happened at the outdoor festival?

We’ve just reported that a British citizen who was working an an outdoor dance festival in southern Israel is missing.

His mother told Jewish News that he was working as security staff at the event in Kibbutz Re’im, near the border with Gaza, when the attack unfolded on Saturday.

Attendees of that event have spoken of how gunmen opened fire in the early hours.

One attendee, Gili Yoskovich, told the BBC that she hid under a tree in a field as gunmen roamed around shooting anybody they found.

“They were very close to me and my leg was shaking. I tried and did my best, I moved a little bit and when they were in this side I heard them talking Arabic,” she said of the attackers.

A different and dangerous crisis in the Middle East

There has been decades of tension, attacks, and all-out wars between Israel and Hamas. But this crisis is different and dangerous – most of all for the large number of Israeli hostages but also the rising toll of Israeli casualties.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be under huge pressure from his right-wing government to do what he and other Israeli leaders have avoided in the past – a major ground offensive into Gaza, even more a reoccupation of the territory its troops pulled out of in 2005.

Hamas is also ready for a fight – its audacious attack has resonated with Palestinians fed up with Israeli restrictions, furious with their own leaders in the Palestinian Authority.

This crisis also comes at a time when Israel and the United States have been negotiating with Saudi Arabia over what would be a major step for the kingdom to recognise the Jewish state.

Hamas has now reminded everyone they’re still a force to be reckoned with, and there are still major issues to resolve.

Source: BBC