‘Powerless, halfway across the world’: Sacramento man calls for release of family kidnapped by Hamas

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Ryan Pessah’s nightmare began on a Saturday morning with a text message from his mom: “Yair and his family are missing.” Pessah immediately feared the worst for his cousin and family who lived in Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel two miles from Gaza. Just hours earlier, Pessah’s wife alerted him that Israel had been suddenly attacked. That day, nobody could reach Yair Yaakov, his girlfriend Meirav Tal or his two sons. The family’s fears were confirmed the following day. Pessah’s mother, who is Yaakov’s aunt, texted him a video sent to the family by an unknown number. I...