Father of Agam Berger, who has been held for 82 days in Gaza: 'We are a broken family'
Shlomi Berger, the father of 19-year-old Agam, who was abducted and taken to Gaza on Oct. 7 – and has been in captivity for 82 days – was interviewed on Wednesday by Esty Perez on KAN's radio Reshet Bet.
He spoke about his family's difficulty in recovering from the trauma of Agam's kidnapping.
"We are a broken family, three more children who are not functioning, little by little some of them have managed to return to themselves, one managed to go back to school, he is in the 7th grade, but it took him a month and a half. Another sister in the 12th grade who you can't even talk to about going back, and my wife says she can't go back to work," he said.
He shared, how on that Shabbat, the family did not understand what had happened to Agam for many hours.
He said: "At 7:45 she had a very short conversation with us when we were in the safe room without good reception. She said, 'They are shooting at us, I am afraid.'"
Only the next morning, Berger watched the video that was circulating in which Agam was seen being taken alive to Gaza.
Berger added that they received some information about her when some of the hostages were released from captivity, but the family is still in a state of panic.
"There is information from released hostages that on the one hand is gratifying, on the other hand, it is disturbing," he noted.
"This is a young woman, 19 years old, one of the youngest left there, I don't want to entertain the thoughts of what might be happening to her there. People who returned talked about sexual abuse. I shut myself off and don't want to think about it – but we are fearful for her fate," he said.
At the end of the interview, Berger went home, hoping that his words would reach her ears: "Agam, we miss you very much, we are all waiting for you to come home, just come, we love you and be strong, we are here strong for you."
Kan.org.il is the Hebrew news website of the The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation
