China confirms Hamas took young Chinese-Israeli woman hostage

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) – The Chinese Embassy in Tel Aviv on Monday confirmed that a young Chinese-Israeli woman was taken hostage during the surprise attacks launched by Hamas inside Israel on Saturday.

In a post on the social networking site Weibo, the embassy stated that the woman whose images of the moment of abduction on motorcycle were reflected in international publications and social media was Noa Argamani. She was taken hostage in the raid on a music festival near the Gaza border on Saturday.

"Noa is a Chinese-Israeli born in Beijing. She was kidnapped by Hamas militants at (from) a music festival in southern Israel and taken to Gaza," according to the post.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning at a press briefing in Beijing on Monday said China is against "violence and attacks" against civilians and stated that they "noted the incident" and "tried to verify the information."

The 25-year-old Argamani, whose father is an Israeli and mother is a Chinese, studied engineering at Ben-Gurion University.

The ministry and the embassy did not provide information on whether the young woman was carrying a Chinese passport.

Mao also declined to respond to a query about whether Chinese citizens were hurt in Hamas attacks, stating that the Chinese Embassy and Palestine Office were trying to contact citizens in the region.

Four Chinese citizens have reportedly gone missing, while another three were injured in the region since the start of the conflict.

The Gaza-based resistance group Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel early Saturday, firing a barrage of rockets. It said the surprise attack was in response to the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and increased settler violence.

In retaliation, the Israeli army launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli forces in Gaza has risen to 560, while 2,900 are injured, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said on Monday amid ongoing fighting.

At least 800 Israelis have been killed and over 2,300 others wounded in the fighting, according to the Israeli Health Ministry.