Avisag Libman, the mother of Eliakim, who was murdered in Nova after rescuing partygoers from a party, was declared abducted and his body was found in another grave - she said this morning (Wednesday) in an interview with 'Kelman Lieberman' on the B network: "As I know him, Eliakim might have preferred not to be abducted in humiliation and to die like that heroically. But in the end, a mother wants her son by her side. I hoped that the ending would be different, that he was alive, that in the end he would overcome the suffering, we would take care of his rehabilitation and he would live and start a family. This is what I would have wanted to happen, but God had a different plan.".
The mother said: "From videos and testimonies we know that he treated the wounded and rescued people from the party with an ATV onto the road with other friends. He spoke to Shani Gabbay's father and told him not to come, because no one gets out of here alive. He constantly did and acted with courage and dedication to save as many people as possible. He encouraged people to get out and escape. In the end, he burned along with everyone who was in the ambulance.".
The bereaved mother recounted the process in which they began to realize that perhaps Elyakim had not been kidnapped.
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""A little before Purim, they started telling us that they were also thinking about other directions," she said. "As much as I knew that other things might have been found recently, I wasn't prepared for such hard news. It's hard to digest. A process of opening graves has begun, one or two graves at a time. Many thanks to the families, it wasn't easy for them to agree. It was shocking. The whole period was very difficult. Every time they didn't find anything in previous graves, I had hopes that God is alive, that he would hold on and survive.".
At the end of this process, Libman said: "If the kidnappers had returned home and he hadn't returned with them, we might never know what happened to him. There is grace here amidst all this difficulty, that at least we know what happened to him.".
Regarding the struggle of the families of the kidnapped, Libman said: "Although we don't always agree, there are many expressions of unity with the families. I pray for them.".
At seven, she said, families of other abductees, who had been with them in the same boat until recently, came to comfort them. According to her, "As soon as a family of a kidnapped person arrived, we stopped everything and treated them, we got emotional and hugged them. They felt our pain and we felt their pain. There were incredible connections and strengths that I hope will work in heaven.".
Her children, Elkanah's brothers, and her sons-in-law are also drafted into the war.
""They are on a break and have already received an order to come to Rafah," she said. "I believe that when they recover, they will return there to save the rest of the hostages with strength and victory. It is a great privilege, especially since we know many of the families.".
""If my children manage to save them, it will be a great comfort. We can bring them back if we just believe in ourselves and let ourselves win. God gave us a mission and probably strength, so everything we can do to help the people of Israel in this situation - we will also feel much better about ourselves that we can do and have an impact than sitting at home and doing nothing. It is clear to me that if we have to fight and do - we will continue. Of course we need to gather strength, we don't have the strength so quickly, but it is clear that we are still on a mission.
""I'm putting all my prayers into it now that this whole nightmare of the wounded and the kidnapped will be over," she said. "The people of Israel have to do all their own work, but in the end it's God.".
