A woman said her 85-year-old Israeli grandmother was whisked away by Hamas on a buggy

An elderly woman, who Adva Adar says is her grandmother, was seen being driven in a buggy by Hamas militants.

Hatem Ali/AP

• A woman said her grandmother, 85, was abducted by Hamas on Saturday.
• Photos published by the AP show an elderly woman driven in a buggy by gun-toting militants.
• Dozens of people were taken hostage by Hamas on Saturday in a wave of surprise attacks.

A woman has been asking social media for information after seeing a photo of her 85-year-old grandmother being driven away by Hamas fighters.

In a Sunday Facebook post, Adva Adar wrote in Hebrew that her grandmother, Yaffa Adar, was an Israeli civilian spotted being escorted by Hamas fighters in a buggy.

The photos show an elderly woman wrapped in floral garb sitting in the vehicle, as a militant behind her totes a rifle. Other militants trail the buggy, including at least one fighter on a motorcycle wielding a rifle.

The elderly woman is seen being driven down a road.

Hatem Ali/Associated Press

Notes from the Associated Press said the woman was a captured civilian from the Kfar Azza community being brought into the Gaza strip.

"My grandmother established the kibbutz with her own hands, believed in Zionism, in this country that has abandoned her, a hostage," wrote Adar, according to a translation by the Times of Israel. "She is apparently thrown somewhere, suffering from severe pain, without medication, without food and without water, dying of fear, alone."

Adar asked for information and urged the Israeli government to recover her grandmother.

While Israeli authorities have not released an official tally of how many people were abducted by Hamas, Israel's ambassador to the UK estimated on Sunday that 100 people have been taken hostage.

Hamas fighters from the Gaza strip launched a wave of surprise attacks on Israel on Saturday, capturing dozens of hostages and killing around 700 people under cover of rocket barrages, Israeli authorities said.

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has declared war in response. At least 400 Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes, Reuters reported.

The US military has moved an aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean as a deterrence measure, amid fears that Middle Eastern nations surrounding Israel, such as Syria and Lebanon, may consider military action as well.

US State Secretary Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the US is working to verify reports of Americans being among those killed or taken hostage by Hamas.

Adar did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours. A message to the Hamas organization was also not returned.

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