The sister of one of the teen hostages held by Hamas who was seen in horrifying new footage released this week has revealed the heartbreaking final text message she received from her only sibling – just minutes before she was abducted to Gaza.
Sasha Ariev, a 24-year-old neuroscience student, has paused her life and halted her studies to focus on bringing home her younger sister, 19-year-old Karina, with who, she shares a profound ‘cosmic-like’ bond.
Karina Ariev was seen in the gruesome video released this week, showing Hamas terrorists taunting the five youngest women held hostage in Gaza since Oct. 7. Karina, injured and bloodied, was still wearing her Snoopy pajamas as she was threatened with rape after being snatched from her bed.
Just minutes before the video was taken, Karina was able to send a last message to her best friend and only sister, Sasha. The haunting text urged Sasha to take care of their parents and to remain strong in the case she never returns home.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, Sasha said she believes from the the look of despair, fear and helplessness in Karina’s eyes, her sister understood that ‘this could be the end’.
Just minutes before the video was taken, Karina (pictured) was able to send a last text message to her best friend and only sister, Sasha
The haunting message urged Sasha to take care of their parents and to remain strong in the case she never returns home (Pictured: Sasha, her father, her mother and Karina)
‘I could see the understanding in her eyes, and few minutes later she sent me a message that if she won’t leave, if she won’t make it out alive, she asked me to keep our parents safe and to be strong and not to wallow in sorrow but to continue living,’ Sasha told Dailymail.com.
‘She didn’t tell my parents to look after me. She told me to look after our parents. This is how we are. We are strong, and this is the bond between us and how we were holding this family together.’
The parents of Karina, along with Liri Albag, 19, Naama Levy, 19, Daniela Gilboa, 20, and Agam Berger, 19, made the agonizing decision to release the footage as their daughters still remain hostages more than seven months later.
‘This is the only thing that I had from my sister. They so brutally took her in her Snoopy pajamas with Kalashnikovs around – like a movie scene. But I watch it again and again and realize it’s not, and you are just living this day all over again.’
The decision to release the footage was a difficult one for the families of the hostages. Sasha revealed that they initially hesitated, fearing the emotional toll it would take on both families and the public.
However, after months of waiting for negotiations with no change in sight, they felt compelled to share the reality of their loved ones’ plight with the world.
‘We just realized now that we are almost eight months, that people are forgetting and that there is no deal in the horizon and we do not know where we are going through,’ Sasha explained.
‘So we thought that instead of talking, we will just show this video and the evidence will talk for itself,’ she added. ‘We wanted people to see and to maybe feel a little of the pain that we’re feeling every day. To understand that when we close our eyes, this is what we see. And even worse.’
The footage released Wednesday is censored and offers just a glimpse into the terror faced by the captives. The full video was 15-minutes long and includes graphic images of dead bodies. (Pictured: Karina with her grandparents)
The footage released Wednesday is censored and offers just a glimpse into the terror faced by the captives. The full video was 15-minutes long and includes graphic images of dead bodies.
Sasha said the uncensored version was too graphic to share with the public. To respect the families of the dead, they cut some of the worst scenes out of the video.
‘The public must remember that this is a censored video,’ Sasha said. ‘There are a lot of corpses of other girls who were murdered. It is much, much harder than this video.’
‘If people thought this video was hard, the the full video is even harder,’ she said.
Sasha described a ‘cosmic bond’ between her and sister Karina, emphasizing their deep understanding of each other without the need for words.
‘I can realize what is going on in her head just through her body movement, body language and her eye,’ she said.
Describing her sister’s demeanor in the video, Sasha said she saw fear and helplessness in Karina’s eyes.
‘I could see her eyes pleading for help,’ she said. ‘I could see helplessness. Like she is a little baby looking for help. Like, “please help me. I don’t know what is going on here. There are grenades. I’m wounded. My best friend is lying dead in front of me.”‘
‘From this despair and fear and helplessness, I think I saw a look in her eyes that she just understood that this could be the end,’ she said. ‘I think she thought, “is that how death looks like?” I think she thought that this is the end, and she is all on her own now.’
‘She’s scared. She wants us to be there and to hug her and to say that she is protected.’
Karina Ariev was seen in the gruesome video released this week, showing Hamas terrorists taunting the five youngest women held hostage in Gaza since Oct. 7
Describing her sister’s demeanor in the video, Sasha said she saw fear and helplessness in Karina’s eyes (Pictured: Karina Ariev)
Sasha described a ‘cosmic unnatural bond’ between her and sister Karina, emphasizing their deep understanding of each other without the need for words (Pictured: Karina Ariev as a baby)
Karina was in an army base on the border of Gaza when she was kidnapped.
The footage was taken by Hamas militants who stormed the Nahal Oz military base, part of the terrorist attack that killed roughly 1,400 people and took about 250 others hostage.
Her family is from a small town in Jerusalem.
Sasha opened up about the anguish her family has endured since October 7.
‘You beg your government and others with power to move and change, not to be silent and to understand that we’re talking about people’s lives that we can save. And as long people are doing politics, people are dying there.’
‘I think people must wake up and help us because we cannot fight our war and we are running out of our force, because we are despaired. And it’s very hard to keep up with the hope.’
‘We need people from around the world and from Israel to fight with us so people will understand. There are young girls, they’re only 19-years-old, and they must come out of there. For 122 days, and they’re still not here, just girls.’
Sasha has conducted over 100 interviews since October 7 and traveled the world in order to spread awareness and fight for her sister’s return.
When she first saw the footage of her sister, Sasha said, ‘It was so hard to see and to acknowledge that I’m not dreaming.’
‘This is not a nightmare. It is a real life. That is my little sister in there.’
When she first saw the footage of her sister from October 7, Sasha said, ‘It was so hard to see and to acknowledge that I’m not dreaming’
Sasha issued a heartfelt plea to the world: ‘Just don’t be silent’
Regarding those denying the tragedies that occurred on Oct. 7, Sasha, who is a granddaughter of holocaust survivors, said: ‘I think I can’t really understand it but we can see from history,’
People deny the Holocaust ever occurred – despite clear evidence, records, footage and testimonies. And today, we are seeing people doing the same, she explained.
‘These people are hypocrites,’ Sasha said. ‘Maybe they know the truth inside them and they are just afraid to admit.’
‘But I always say it could be anyone,’ she continued. ‘And that’s that’s what people need to understand. Today it’s here, and tomorrow it is in another place and another religion. And we just need to bring them back as soon as possible.’
‘I just want to walk past her room to the kitchen and to see her near her from the side of my eye, knowing that she’s inside the house and I can call her at any time of day.’
Sasha issued a heartfelt plea to the world: ‘Just don’t be silent.’
Despite the immense pain her family is facing, Sasha’s unwavering determination to bring her sister home remains strong.
‘This is my mission, and I will not stop till my last breath,’ she said. ‘Because she’s my little sister, we are only two. I have only her in my life, and I don’t see any purpose of living if she’s not together with me.
She stays strong for her family, especially her mother, like her sister had asked of her.
‘I have no privilege to break down, even if sometimes I want to,’ Sasha said.
‘I haven’t cried for like a lot of months. I just I just can’t because I’m so pushing it so that I can act to release my sister and all the other hostages that I cannot let myself for a minute to just crawl in my bed, be under the blanket and cry.’
Sasha has remained strong for her family, especially her mother, like her sister, Karina (pictured) had asked of her in her last message
‘I gave my promise to my sister that I will look after them’ she said.
‘She’s the one who is really fighting there. So I have no privilege to say that it’s hard for me or something, So I’m letting my parents be more emotional, like parents are, and I’m always saying that I’m strong and no one can break me no matter what.’
‘I’m doing everything I can to bring Karina back alive as soon as possible. And only afterwards will I allow myself to cry. Only tears of joy.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk