I’d do anything to free my mum and brother, says distraught relative of Brits dragged away by Hamas monsters
HOPES were raised for the plight of seven British hostages in Gaza last night after two Americans were released.
And the relative of two Brits held by Hamas prays the move means that her loved ones will also be freed.
Ayelet Svatitzky said: “I can’t stop thinking about what my mother and brother are going through.”
She said in Israel: “I’d do anything to make their release happen but I would say to Hamas that all of the hostages should be released.
“I trust my government and British government to do whatever they can to rescue them.”
Tense negotiations over 200 captives continued yesterday as more than 100,000 people joined a pro-Palestine march in London.
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Police in the capital probed online video of a Tube train driver appearing to encourage passengers to shout “Free Palestine”.
And a separate demonstration by members of a controversial, banned pro-Palestine group called for “jihad” — but cops insisted no offence had been committed.
Twenty aid trucks were yesterday let into the besieged Gaza enclave after the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was finally opened.
Meanwhile, Israel continued its aerial and artillery blitz as troops and tanks massed on the border for an expected invasion.
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At least 4,385 people have died, including 1,756 children, amid a growing humanitarian crisis.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on world leaders to stop the “contagion of conflict” after his recent Middle East visit.
US hostages Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter Natalie, 17, were freed on Friday night.
Yesterday, they spoke by phone with President Joe Biden as CIA spy chiefs prepared to quiz them for any clues on their captors.
Negotiations were feared to have stalled amid offers of a temporary ceasefire, the resumption of water supplies to Gaza and more aid.
But mum-of-three Ayelet, whose family are from Wakefield, West Yorks, refused to beg Hamas for the lives of her loved ones.
Frail mum Channah, 79, and brother Nadav Popplewell, 51, were dragged away by the terrorists in this month’s invasion of Israel.
Her farmer brother Roi Popplewell, 54, was shot dead at Nirim Kibbutz, a mile from Gaza
Speaking of the Hamas hostages, Ayelet told The Sun on Sunday: “I wouldn’t know what to say to them (Hamas). What they did is inhuman, not only taking hostages but murdering babies and children in their mother’s arms.
“I am beyond shocked at these atrocities, the butchering of entire communities. What do you say to people who murdered babies in cold blood? I don’t think you can reason with them.”
Ayelet frantically called Channah, who lived near Roi, after the Hamas invasion on October 7.
She was horrified to hear thugs barking orders inside her mum’s home before the line went dead.
Moments later, Channah and Nadav’s captors grabbed the gran’s phone and sent a snap of the pair to Ayelet captioned “Hamas”.
She said: “As far as the British and Israeli authorities are concerned, my brother and mother are presumed kidnapped. We know they were alive when they were abducted but we have heard nothing from Hamas since.
“I’m a British citizen and my brother is a British citizen and all I know now is my mum and brother are on the hostage list.
“Now all I can do is pray that Hamas has given them medication to keep them alive purely because they are valuable to them. The British authorities were the first to contact me and have been in touch since the day after the attacks.”
Ayelet said she supported Israeli action to smash Hamas despite her family’s peril.
She said: “This is not about revenge — it is about security. It is about my friends and neighbours being unable to return to their homes.
“But I also accept the fact that I don’t have any control over when the troops go in.
“I just pray for the safe return of my mum and my brother.”
Ayelet is due to fly to London today with other families to raise awareness of the hostages’ plight.
Defence analyst Paul Beaver: said: “Islamists have a track record of wiring hostages to bombs and booby traps and I pity all of those in Gaza. The hostages’ best chance of survival remains negotiations through any back channels kept open with Hamas.
“But no such channels will be open to help anyone being held by the IS-backed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad — my heart goes out to those people.”
In London yesterday, terror cops were on high alert during the huge pro-Palestine protest.
Slogans including the controversial “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” were openly displayed and chanted by children, despite the Home Secretary Suella Braverman urging police to crack down on anti-Semitic language.
One woman with the slogan on a sign said: “I don’t care what people think. This is about freedom.”
Fireworks were launched at cops from the Trafalgar Square crowd.
Two arrests were made for offences under the Explosives Act 1875.
One protester had his placard removed and was reportedly told to attend a police station.
Earlier, a Central Line Tube train driver led passengers in a chant of “free, free Palestine” while en-route to the protest at Marble Arch.
Transport for London and British Transport Police are investigating.
Hundreds gathered outside the BBC’s MediaCity HQ in Manchester to protest the corporation’s coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas.
There was also a small protest outside Windsor Castle.
And protesters in the controversial Hizb ut-Tahrir group, which is banned in more than 40 countries, called for “Muslim armies” to save Palestine.
In one clip, a speaker says: “What is the solution to liberate people from the concentration camp called Palestine? Jihad! Jihad!”
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “No one thinks he is using the word Jihad to mean some sort of spiritual struggle.
"Most people will believe it is a call to wage war on Israel. If that is not incitement I do not know what is.
“Such demonstrations will send a chill down the spines of Jewish people in this country.”
The Met Police said that the public will commonly associate the word jihad with terrorism, but said no offences had been committed.
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Meanwhile, officers were working to identify another group of protesters chanting in Arabic.
The Met said officers with language skills assessed the footage and a hate crime had been committed.
