Argentine Baby Among Hostages Held by Hamas, Official Says

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — One of the youngest hostages being held captive in Gaza by Hamas is a 9-month-old Argentine baby, according to the head of Argentina’s embassy in Israel.

“The youngest hostage, a baby of only nine months, is Argentine. It’s very difficult to talk about such painful topics,” Francisco Tropepi told Vis á Vis, a news outlet focused on reporting related to Israel and the Jewish community in Argentina, in an interview. Tropepi did not reveal the baby’s identity.

There are 21 Argentine citizens who remain missing and are presumed to be held hostage by Hamas, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero said in a radio interview Friday morning. An estimated nine Argentines have been killed in the conflict.

“In some cases, we have precise information that they’ve been captured, and in others, we’ve been actively searching for them,” Cafiero said, adding that he had spoken with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to request his intervention for the release of the Argentine hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip.