Esther Kunio, 90 year old Argentinean woman managed to escape kidnapping by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, when a group of them entered her home in Nir Oz in southern Israel with the intention of taking her and her family to Gaza.

The mention of the Argentine football star was enough. Lionel Messi, so that the terrorist who threatened Esther decided to take a photo with her and free her. Unfortunately, not all members of his family suffered the same fate as eight of them were kidnapped.

The night before the Hamas attack on Israel, the Kounios gathered together for dinner, 20 of them. The next day, only 12 people remained, including a 90-year-old woman.

Five months later his grandchildren twins Ariel and David, They remain kidnapped in the Gaza Strip.

Along with them, Arbel, Ariel’s girlfriend, and her brother Dolev remain in the hands of Hamas. In David’s case, he was kidnapped along with his wife Sharon and twins Emma and Julie. However, girls and women They were released in November last year.

This is how Messi saved her

On the morning of October 7, Hamas members knocked on Esther’s door and asked about her family.

“I don’t have a family. You can not see? Go and check the house,” the woman replied, not to mention the dinner she had hosted a few hours earlier with 19 of her relatives. But the terrorists did not believe him.

“You come with me, there will be no people left here. “It will all be a fire,” they threatened her.

She kept her cool and told him that it was difficult for them to communicate because they spoke different languages; They are Arabs, and she speaks very simple Hebrew. “I speak Argentinean, Spanish”told them.

The terrorist didn’t even know what she meant by Argentina: “What is Argentina!?” – he asked her. Esther’s answer changed her luck.

– Are you watching football?

– Yes, football, I like it.

– I’m from where Messi is from.

– Messi!? I like Messi…

The story of Esther Kunio was recorded in documentary film “Voices of October 7”produced by the Fuente Latina Association.

In her testimony, the woman explains that the mention of the Argentine star was enough for the attacker to give her a gun and force her to pose for a photograph before leaving her.

“If he (Lionel) knows that I mentioned this and was saved, then now I would ask my grandchildren who are there locked up. I would tell him to pray to God because these guys are worth their weight in gold.”

Messi, work your magic (back) pic.twitter.com/vgml8N2EFB

— Alejo Shapire⚡️ (@aschapire) March 7, 2024