Main Line Man Spots Israeli Stepmother, 84, In Propaganda Video: Reports

ARDMORE, PA — Days after the Hamas attacks began, a longtime Ardmore resident recognized his 84-year-old stepmother—who lives in war-torn Israel—in a propaganda video, he said in interviews with various news outlets.

Amichai Shdaimah, 59, told ABC6 he believes his stepmother, Ditza Heiman, was taken from her home just outside Gaza and is now being held captive somewhere in Gaza.

Heiman, a mother and stepmother of seven from the small Israeli agricultural community of Kibbutz Nir Oz, likely tried to hide before attackers descended upon her home, Shdaimah told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Shdaimah tried to reach his stepmother by phone for hours. When someone finally picked up, it was a man speaking in Arabic saying "Hamas, Hamas," he told the Inquirer.

Although Heiman—Shdaimah's father's longtime partner—is not related to Shdaimah by blood, he told the outlet she "adopted [his] entire family" and always insists on cooking his children's favorite soup when they visit Israel.

Shdaimah and his family have been "[trying] not to imagine what she's going through, which is probably awful," he told ABC6.

In the meantime, he said they are in touch with the U.S. State Department and Israeli intelligence officials in a desperate attempt to get information.

Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, launched an attack inside Israel over the weekend of Oct. 7, killing hundreds and taking others hostage while seizing settlements. Its unprecedented breach of the border sent fighters inside border communities and military installations, shocked Israel and its allies, and raised questions about the group's capabilities and strategy.

The U.S. State Department designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1997. The European Union and other Western countries also consider it a terrorist organization.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.