Help free our son from Gaza, pleads Israeli mother to British FM

“They are coming in. I love you all. It’s over,” Ron Sherman, 19, texted to his parents on Saturday morning after Hamas terrorists invaded his military base along Israel’s southern border.

“I sure he was dead,” Ron’s mother Maayan said, as she detailed the events of that morning that to her son’s kidnapping in a conversation with British Foreign Minister Jame Cleverly during his solidarity visit to the southern city of Ofakim on Wednesday.

“We ask, politely, that other governments like yours do whatever you can to bring him back to us safe and alive,” Maayan pled.

She issued the same call to the Israeli government.

Ron had been texting with his parents since the moment he woke up to the sound of explosions outside his base.

Initially, he presumed it was a normative rocket or mortar attack, so he went to a bomb shelter in shorts and a T-shirt, without a weapon.

Once he got there, he felt that something was off, but Maayan assured him that he was safe in a military base.

“Suddenly he said, ‘Mom, I hear Arab language outside the shelter. I can hear shooting. They are coming in. I do not know what to do.  What should I do?,” he asked her.

After his last text, fearing he was dead she looked for information about the attack in the local news but didn’t find anything.

“We called his commander,” who said he didn’t believe it was anything, but in hindsight, she understands that few people actually understood what was happening at this stage. 

Then “after four or five hours we suddenly received videos, that came, like victory videos from Hamas [where] you can see him clearly, very much alive and healthy,” Maayan recalled.

“From the moment he was captured and until he was delivered to the Gaza Strip, they filmed him all the time,” she explained to Cleverly.

“We saw him alive in the Gaza strip, and we are sure that he is still alive,” Maayan said, adding he was asthmatic and that she had sought the Red Cross’ help in sending him an inhaler.

Maayan clarified for Cleverly that Ron was kidnapped within sovereign Israeli territory at a time when he was not in combat.

Her son is one of more than 100 soldiers and civilians taken captive during that Saturday morning during Hamas’ assault on border communities. Over 1,200 people, including foreigners, were killed in the attacks.

It’s believed that at least 17 British citizens were killed or taken captive.

Both Cleverly and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have spoken out strongly in the last few days in support of Israel.

“I came directly here to show solidarity to you and the people of Israel to discuss… how we can regain peace and security for your country,” Cleverly said.

He spoke with reporters together with Foreign Minister Eli Cohen who accompanied him along with Foreign Ministry staff.

“Of course, we recognize that when a good friend, as Israel is to the UK, experiences a terrible situation like this, it is important that your friends around the world demonstrate solidarity and support 

“And that you regain the people that have been kidnapped,” Cleverly said.

He recalled how he had woken up to the news of the attack on Saturday morning and had met on Monday with Israel’s Ambassador to Great Britain Tzipi Hotovely who encouraged him to visit. 

Running for shelter

Cohen’s visit to Ofakim was disrupted by a warning siren that forced him and his delegation to run for shelter. 

"Today I’ve seen a glimpse of what millions experience every day. The threat of Hamas rockets lingers over every Israeli man, woman and child. 

“This is why we are standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel,” he wrote on a post on X. Cleverly included a short video clip of the event.

He also visited the bullet-riddled home of Rachel and David Edri who were held hostage for 20 hours by Hamas terrorists until she was rescued by her son, a police officer. 

Cohen said that Cleverly’s visit shows how the “world stands by Israel in these difficult and sad days.” 

To Cleverly, he said, “you came all the way from London to our southern border to hear about the huge massacre” and Israelis “woke up to a black Saturday.”

“Britain is one of our biggest and closest allies in Europe. You are always in our heart and we will never forget that you came,” he Cohen said.

He noted to the media that on Sunday the Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky and visited Israel.

“The solidarity visits strengthen international support for Israel and expose the visitors to the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists,” Cohen said.