The acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, confirmed this Tuesday that the Spanish Iván Illarramendi is one of the hostages held by Hamas after the attack on Israel and has demanded his immediate and unconditional release as well as those of the rest of the people who remain captured.

It was at that moment that he included the Spaniard among the hostages. Illarramendi, 46 years old, born in the Guipuzcoan town of Zarautz, where he stopped being registered in 1986 and that he had been living for a few years with his Chilean wife, Loren Garovich, 47, in the Kissufim kibbutz located two kilometers from the Gaza Strip.

The kibbutz was attacked on October 7 by Hamas militiamen, who murdered many of the residents and kidnapped others. The couple was at their home in a town in which they resided with 300 people who are dedicated to agricultural activity.

On Saturday you lose your track

When the assault began, Iván and Loren contacted their families to convey their concern and they did not have time to access the shelter of the home. They never heard from them again because when the police arrived at the house there was no one there. The only hopeful sign is that there were no signs of violence, so at that time, the hypothesis of a kidnapping was the one that gained the most strength.

“We were able to chat on WhatsApp and she asked for help because there were people inside the house“explained Danny Garovich, Loren’s father and Illarramendi’s father-in-law, who had not heard from either of them since 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Pedro Sánchez, after confirming the news of the kidnapping, requested “the demand for the immediate release, without conditions, of all the hostages held by Hamas, including our compatriot Iván Illarramendi.”