Since October 7, Karina Ariev has been held hostage in Gaza. Her father and sister share their story

When 19-year-old Karina Ariev was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz by Hamas terrorists on the morning of October 7th, her family’s lives stopped. Here, Karina’s father and sister share a window into their painful reality as they await Karina’s return — and beg Family First readers, “Please, help bring her back home.”

“I was in bed, it was around 7:00 a.m., when Karina called me,” says Sasha Ariev. The call from her little sister had awakened her from her sleep, early on that morning of October 7.

“I could tell from her voice that something was very wrong,” Sasha continues. “She sounded terrified, and I could hear booms and sirens in the background. She said she and the girls she was with had woken up from the tzeva adom alerts and dashed to the migunit, the concrete bomb shelter, on the kibbutz, still in their pajamas. Then they heard the sounds of shooting and shouting in Arabic and realized this wasn’t a regular rocket attack but also a terrorist infiltration. Once she heard the terrorists, she got off the phone so that the terrorists wouldn’t detect them hiding in the migunit, and we switched to communicating via WhatsApp messages.”

As the terrorists got closer to the migunit, the tone of the conversation turned from fearful to somber. Karina messaged her sister, “I love you. If anything happens to me, look after our parents. And don’t stop living your lives.”

“I realized this was a goodbye conversation,” Sasha says.

The Arievs — parents Albert and Ira and their 24-year-old daughter Sasha — last heard from 19-year-old Karina at 7:40 a.m. on October 7. Since then — since that terrible day when she was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz by Hamas terrorists — nothing.